Emerald Potter
by Mattimo
Summary: What if Harry Potter wasn't the first child of Lily and James Potter? What if he had an older sister? What if her role in the story was almost just as big? What if she led an entirely different path than Harry? What if the Potter's survived the attack by Voldemort? Slytherin, book lover and finding a friend in a certain Potion Master. What then?
1. Prologue

_**Hello! This is my new document, I have decided to rewrite some of the** **fanfiction**_ **_and decided it was too hard to do so with rewriting and replacing documents in my other story, so I will do it here instead! I hope you will enjoy this take on it as well, and the story will be pretty much the same, just with a different writing form and maybe more details. I hope you will enjoy this!_**

* * *

 ***James' POV***

* * *

"C'mon James, you have spent all your time with Lily these past few weeks. C'mon, join us out doing some mischief, mate!" Sirius whined, giving his friend a weak nudge in the side.

James just shook his head in reply, grinning. "You know I can't. I just love her so much you know? And we have a date in the library in half an hour. And NO, you can't come."

"That's it! You are neglecting me. ME. Your best friend, nay, BROTHER."

"Oh, shush you. Just admit it, you love Lily almost just as much as me Padfoot."

Remus chuckled behind them, receiving a short half-hearted glare from Sirius while doing so. The three of them were just walking back from a Quidditch practice, all wet and cold after being out in the snow for so long. It was starting to melt, making the snow extra wet and unbearable. It was late February after all, and soon Spring would set in properly. Many looked forwards to brighter days. Especially with everything that was going on.

"What do you think, though, James? You think you'll end up with her?"

"Yes. Heck, one day I'm going to marry her. I promise you guys.I wouldn't even need any time to think about it. One day I'm going to marry Lily Evans."

* * *

James had to take a shower and change before meeting Lily in the library for their study date. They had been dating properly since the very beginning of the year and been friends over half a year before that. He loved every moment he spent together with her, and although their relationship had been progressing really fast, he did not mind one bit. Both of them were very busy, however, with them being Head Boy and Girl, and him being the Captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team. James was just approaching, when he knew that something was wrong. He could see her, sitting in their usual spot further back in the library, by the window where they had shared their first kiss, but she was not her usual bubbly self. He noticed it straight away. She had been crying recently, her eyes were all puffy and still somewhat red, but the rest of her face was pale. She had a pile of books next to her on the desk, but only one of them had even been opened. James approached her carefully, he didn't even dare to grin as he usually would. He just smiled weakly.

"Hey, Lil, what's wrong?" he almost whispered, finding that his voice was suddenly cracking, as he sat down across from her.

Lily looked up at him, and he knew immediately that he had been right. She had been crying. Their eyes met for a few short moments, before she averted them, looking instead down at her Transfiguration book, which had been opened at a random page.

"James…" she began with a low voice, still not looking at him. Dread filled him suddenly. Was she possibly about to break up with him? Had he been such a horrible boyfriend that she did no longer want to be with him?

"Did I do something wrong?" he suddenly interrupted her, the dread getting the best of him.

She looked up suddenly with puzzled eyes, smiling slowly and shaking her head. After a few moments, she took a hold of his right hand, and James immediately felt a little bit more relaxed. Her hands were always so warm and soft, her warmth spreading across his arm like it was a drug. For a few seconds, James forgot altogether about his dread, and could only think about how much he loved the woman sitting across from him. How much he would sacrifice for her, as long as she would never stop loving him. But like every moment, that also passed.

"What's wrong, Lily? Tell me, please."

James watched as Lily took a deep, shaky breath. Her eyes glazed over slightly with tears, but she tried her best to smile weakly, although it did not end up entirely sincere.

"Y-you know how I've been ill a lot these past weeks?" She began, her voice starting to sound a little bit stronger than before.

James nodded, thinking about all the times she had had to run off to throw up for the past couple of weeks, and how she had a cold that seemed to never fully go away, despite help from Madame Pomfrey and various Potions she offered her. "Yes, you've had a harsh cold, wasn't that what Madame Pomfrey called it?"

She nodded. "I went back to the Infirmary today to get a new check up from her since she told me to return by today if I hadn't gotten any better." she stopped again, a couple of tears finally tickling down her cheeks. "S-she tried to run some more tests, James. Turns out I do not have a cold at all…"

"What is it then? Is it serious?" Panic erupted inside of him suddenly, his thoughts flying to all the deadly magical diseases he knew about. From Dragon Pox to any muggle diseases he could recall.

Lily nodded finally, a sob escaping her lips, and she clutched his hand tightly. The two of them just sat there like that for a few minutes, Lily sobbing while he tried to give her whatever comfort he could. James tried to get up to maybe hold her, hug her, but she just gripped his hand more tightly, preventing him from moving. He desperately wanted to ask her what was wrong, to find out what it was, how he could help, but he didn't know how. Some part of him was too scared to find out. It seemed like an eternity had passed when Lily finally spoke up again, and by then even her soft whisper felt like screaming.

"I'm pregnant, James."

"What?" he almost shouted in shock, his eyes widening.

"And I know that it is far too early along for us to have a child together, we haven't even been dating a year, and we haven't even discussed our relationship after we finish school…-"

"- Lily, stop talking," James finally muttered.

"-what?"

"I love you. And, I would spend eternity together with you, if you'd let me. "

Suddenly Lily's eyes widened, and their eyes met. James smiled at her, not regretting for a single moment what he had just confessed to her. He had been in love with her since their very first year of school, and he was not about to stop now.

"Lil, do you want to keep the baby? If you could decide that right now, would you?" he began, not wanting to force her into something just because she saw that he approved.

She dried her cheeks and eyes with the sleeve of her sweater, sniffling a few times as she did so. "Honestly? I'd do it as long as it was together with you. But I'm scared. Are we ready to become parents? What will your parents say?"

"We may not be ready now, but when the baby comes we will be." James smiled, "And don't worry about my parents. They are old, and they love you."

"Really?"

"Would I lie about something like this, Lil? Honestly, they love you like a part of the family already."

Lily smiled, almost like it was the biggest relief that she would be approved by his parents. James just smiled at the girl sitting opposite him. She was so beautiful, it was almost like he had been blind to her true intense beauty, and just now spotted her real form.

"Lily? Will you marry me?" James got up from his chair and knelt down on the dusty library floor, grinning from ear to ear at the woman in front of him.

"Yes."

* * *

 ***Lily's POV***

* * *

After graduating from Hogwarts, James asked Lily to move in together with him and his elderly parents until they found a place of their own. Lily moved in instantly, and later that summer the two of them got married in a beautiful summer wedding. The war was progressing dangerously, and no one was safe in the Wizarding world. The two of them, together with Sirius, Remus and Peter joined the Order of the Phoenix fighting against the dark forces of Voldemort full-time and helped protect the innocent and weak. James and Lily continued to live together with his parents for a while and found it hard to find their own place with a child on the way. Although Dumbledore did not like the fact that Lily still fought and tried to protect people despite the fact that she was very pregnant, she was allowed to as her skill level was too valuable. When Death Eaters attacked the town Hogsmead in mid-August 1978, the Potters were some of the first to arrive to protect the villagers against the attacking Death Eaters.

Lily heard the chaos from the moment she apparated on site. People were screaming and running everywhere, and houses were burning. Smoke filled the air, hitting her nose shockingly strong. James was right in front of her, running towards the biggest group of Death Eaters. Order members were appearing steadily, but not quickly enough to get control of the situation. Lily split from the group to tend to any injured and get them out of the immediate fighting zone. The first her eyes landed on was three children that were hunched behind some tables in the middle of the most dangerous fighting. One of them was sobbing, while the other two just looked frozen. Terrified. She ran to them as fast as her legs would carry her, clutching her wand so hard that her wrist was beginning to hurt. The focus of the Death Eaters wasn't on her, though. Not yet. James had caught a lot of them by surprise.

"Hey, I'm going to help you to a safer place," she said quietly to the children. Their eyes widened at the sight of her, but they hurried along with her without any complaints, too scared to object.

The safest place in Hogsmeade was a pub at the very outskirts of the town, and Lily was nearly there when she noticed another child standing behind the corner of a building, paralyzed by fear. She tried to soothe the child, but the little boy just started to cry. It ended up with her having to carry the little boy, slowing them down progressively.

"Alright, stay here until someone comes to fetch you, deal? And keep your heads down, please. "

The second the children were safe inside of the pub, Lily ran back in the opposite direction. The firing off spells could be heard from far away, so she did not even need to think about where she was going. A lot more people had joined the fight by now, on both sides, and she noticed that Dumbledore was there as well. Before she could join James in the fighting, however, she was jumped by two large Death Eaters. She could not tell whom either of the men was due to their skull masks, and she almost wished that she had the same form of anonymity. They neared her dangerously, almost mockingly. It made her stomach sink with dread.

"Expelliarmus!" she shouted, and the man to her right almost did not manage to deflect her spell in time.

With that, the fighting started full time. Although both men were slower than her at casting spells and charms, none of them were slow enough for her to fully gain the upper hand. Lily imagined that they might have thought that she was an easy target, having separated her from the larger group and because she was clearly pregnant. Lily was almost certain that she was going to win when two more men joined the fight. This filled her with enormous dread, and she almost instantly started to create some form of exit plan. She was stubborn, though, and did not want to give in. Not yet.

"Give up, mommy, and maybe we will let you and your child live when we are done!" one of the men shouted mockingly, his voice filled with clear disgust.

"You would like that, wouldn't you!" Lily shouted back, trying to push them back, to gain a better strategic position. She knew that they were trying to push her back into the buildings. They wanted to corner her, and they weren't far from succeeding, which she did not like one bit.

A harsh blow of wind arrived suddenly, making two of the men lose their footing and almost fall. Seeing the small opening, Lily ran through them, knocking over another one in the process. She was almost starting to think that she had made it, that she had succeeded when she was hit by not one, but two spells in the side. Pain shot through her, and she almost fell to her knees right on the spot, had she not known that by doing so she would basically guarantee her own death, so she kept running. Her right hand shot to the gashes that had been formed across her side and upper leg. It was starting to soak, and she knew. She knew immediately that it was her own blood, dangerous amounts of blood. Lily's vision blurred at the edges, and she fell into the grass. If the fighting was still going on as badly as before she did not know. All she could hear was her own rapid breath and heartbeat, and the excruciating pain. At some point, she passed out there, in the grass, and she was sure that she would not wake up again.

* * *

 ***James' POV***

* * *

James saw it. Lily was fighting a bunch of Death Eaters, too many. He watched as she desperately tried to flee the situation she knew she couldn't win. He watched her get shot in the side. He screamed her name, fought his way through the Death Eaters he were fighting. Only a minute or two later he was at her side, but she had already passed out. A small pool of her blood was forming at her side, crimson red blood. Tears filled his eyes at the very sight, and he felt sick. Desperately he tried to make her regain consciousness.

"Lily? Lily please, wake up. Wake up. You can't die here! You hear me?" he cried, shaking her pale form, slapping her cheeks lightly.

Dumbledore arrived at his side soon after. James noticed that he said something to him, but he couldn't hear it. Couldn't process it. He just followed him as he charmed Lily's body, and started running towards the school. James didn't know what his plan was, or where they were going. If they were even going to make it at all. All he knew was that he desperately wanted his wife to wake up, to not die. They had entered the first courtyard when Dumbledore suddenly stopped and carefully placed Lily on the ground. James didn't notice it at first, but Dumbledore's Phoenix, Fawkes, was sitting on the ground next to Lily, and Dumbledore was speaking.

"What is it doing?" James whispered, at last, his voice weak like he had been crying heavily. And maybe he had, he couldn't tell.

"A Phoenix's tears has Healing abilities, Mr. Potter. Hopefully, Miss Eva-, I mean, Mrs. Potter will be just fine. The child, however, I cannot guarantee."

James looked at Lily, and he noticed that she was already growing less pale, and looking more alive. For a moment he was relieved beyond measure that she would not die today, but when the moment passed, he knew that if the child was lost, they would both die a little. And if that happened, the Death Eaters had won, after all.

* * *

 ***Lily's POV***

* * *

Lily woke up a couple of hours later in the hospital wing, confused and scared of what had happened. There was not a single sound to be heard in the room, and as she sat up carefully she noticed that she was alone. The room was darkened, the only thing illuminating it for her was a dimly lit lamp at her bedside. Almost like they didn't want the light to be bright enough to wake her. After a few minutes of looking around the room, her eyes landed on her own pregnant stomach, and a jolt of fear shot through her. She thought back to the fight, how she had been shot in the side, and she was bleeding, a lot. Carefully Lily lifted the sheets from her body and pulled up her sweater. The wounds that should have been there was nowhere to be seen, not as much as a scar was present.

"Lily, you're awake!"

She looked up quickly, locking eyes with James. Immediately she could tell how stressed and worried he had been, his hair was more messy than usual, and he was still dirty from the fight. He had heavy bags under his eyes, almost as dark as his hair.

"How long have I been out?" she whispered, blinking away the tears. She hated to see him like this, so full of worry.

James walked to her side and sat down next to her on the bed. The mattress gave away slightly under his weight, making her body lean into him. Somehow, having him so near her made her calm. He took her right hand in his, holding it tightly, almost desperately. His eyes focused on the flickering flames of the lamp.

"It's been a little over a day," he paused, cleared his throat shakily, and looked at her, " You almost died yesterday, you know. If Dumbledore hadn't been there, had he not called for his Phoenix to meet us halfway here, you wouldn't have made it."

Her left hand immediately flew to her belly, almost like she couldn't believe it was true. Like she had to touch it to believe it.

"I'm alive, though, and that's what matters."

"We have been waiting for you to wake up for over a day, Lil. Madame Pomfrey told us that if you didn't wake up by tomorrow morning, that you had entered a coma, and possibly wouldn't wake up at all."

A door opened loudly somewhere before Lily could answer, and suddenly Dumbledore and Madame Pomfrey walked in, both looking relieved to see her awake. Madame Pomfrey said something, but Lily could not make out what it was at first. She was too shocked, that she could have ended up in the permanent ward of the hospital with a coma.

"How is the baby?" she spoke up.

The other three adults looked puzzled at her, obviously because she had not been listening to any of what they had been saying.

"I did some tests, and the baby should as far as I can tell, be fine. I cannot tell if it was injured in any way, though."

She breathed a sigh of relief, finally relaxing slightly. She would never have forgiven herself if the baby had died because of her foolishness and stupidity. Despite her young age, she had grown comfortable with the thought of becoming a parent by now, especially with James at her side. He was willing to go to the end of the earth for her, she understood that now.

"Y-you were right James." she began, gulping, "I should take a break from this, at least for a while. Until after I have the baby."

"Yes, it's way too dangerous for both of you right now." he agreed, stroking her hand slightly, "I wouldn't be able to bear losing you both."

Lily nodded, giving him a weak smile. Dumbledore and Madame Pomfrey was smiling comfortingly at her from a few feet away, and she knew that they both agreed too.

"I will keep out of the battle for a while, on one condition."

"What is that?" Dumbledore asked carefully, his piercing blue eyes almost penetrating her mind as he looked at her. His eyes twinkling almost knowingly.

"James, I don't want you out there fighting for a while. At least not until the baby has been born. I won't be able to do this without you."

For a moment it looked like James was about to protest, but he decided against it . Lily thought that maybe he understood why she had presented such a request. Understood how hard it would be for her to stay away from the fight, not knowing whether or not he would make it home to her. So instead he just gave a reluctant sigh and smiled, nodding.

"Okay." he replied, "We both stay away until we have had the baby. And then we can discuss it from there, agreed?"

"Definitely."

* * *

 ***James' POV***

* * *

Barely two weeks after they had agreed to stay away from the fight, Lily gave birth. It was a quick labor, and although two months too early, the baby was born without any complications. It was a very beautiful baby, and although tiny, incredibly strong. The baby was born 31. August 1978, and she was named Emerald Lily Potter because her eyes were green. Like her mother's.

"She is so tiny, James," Remus said as he held the baby in his arms, tears in his eyes.

James nodded, smiling broadly at his good friend. He patted his back carefully, all the while looking down at the baby, his little baby daughter.

"It's so amazing, I can hardly believe it. I have known I was going to become a father for months, but it wasn't until I held her in my arms earlier that it truly hit me."

Remus smiled and sat down slowly in one of the chairs in the corner of the room. He moved almost like he was afraid that he would break the baby in his arms

"Where is Lily?"

"She is downstairs together with Sirius and Peter. I told them to get some food into her now that she has a break from the baby."

Remus nodded, not taking his eyes away from the baby for a second. "Have you found a name yet?"

James nodded, grinning from ear to ear. "Meet Emerald Lily Potter, the newest member of the Marauders."

Just then, the tiny form in Remus' arms started to move slightly, and a soft cry filled the otherwise silent room. The sound startled Remus so much that his entire body shook, his eyes widening. Carefully, he began humming some kind of lullaby. James looked in amazement how his good friend tried to calm the baby, although he looked almost terrified while doing it. After a few minutes, she stopped crying, and once again became calm, lying silently in Remus' arms.

"Moony, I have to ask you something." James almost whispered, not wanting to disturb the baby.

Remus, who had been staring intensely at the tiny baby in his arms, looked up quickly, his smile disappearing entirely, his face growing serious.

"I already know what it is," he said, in a low and very serious voice, resting his gaze on the wall behind James. "You don't want me to be around your daughter because you are afraid I might injure her or end up causing her any harm."

James' eyes widened in disbelief. It hurt him how such a close friend of him, a best friend, could think so little of himself. Believe so little in their friendship. He tried to speak, but Remus interrupted him before he could get even one word out.

"N-no, I get it, James, I do. No one would want someone-" he paused for a moment, swallowing hard. "-someone like me, near their children. The risk is just too high. I AM dangerous, after all."

"Moony, no, that isn't it. Not at all."

"It's not?" he spoke with disbelief, his eyes finally meeting James'.

James knelt down next to his friend, never breaking eye contact, and let his hands rest on either side of his thin frame.

"We want you to be her godfather."

Remus' eyes widened, and started filling with tears almost immediately.

"B-but, what about Sirius? Surely you would rather pick him than me?"

He shook his head at him, smiling.

"No, we were thinking about it at first, but a few hours ago when we found out that it was a girl, we decided that you would be a much better fit." James replied quietly, "She will need a role model as she grows up, and Lily and myself wants it to be you. If you'll accept?"

Tears started tickling down Remus's cheeks, slowly first, but by the time James had finished speaking, they were flowing down freely.

"Y-yes, I-i do."


	2. Chapter 1

**_Hello again! Thanks for all the positive response I have already received on this. I apologize for the poor format of the last chapter, I used the copy-paste option, forgetting entirely how rubbish that one can be! I hope this one will upload better! A lof of this chapter is based on what I wrote for the prologue in my 'original version' of this, but a lot is different. I have also added a lot of new content. I hope you will like it! I also hope the changes between Lily and James' point of view won't be too difficult._**

* * *

 ** _*_ Lily's POV***

* * *

The smell of burnt wood and the cold winter air filled her nostrils. Everything was quiet, maybe a bit too quiet. Lily's head was spinning, her entire body aching painfully. At first, she could hear nothing at all except her own rapid heartbeat and short breaths, but bit by bit she was starting to gain her hearing back. Her body felt heavy, and she struggled to move at all, to open her eyes. There was a growing feeling of dread and confusion at the bit of her stomach. What had happened? To Lily, it felt like an eternity before she managed to open up her eyes and blink slowly. To get her eyes to focus properly on her surroundings. It didn't truly hit her before that. Suddenly she remembered. Remembered how Voldemort had found them, how she had grabbed Harry from the floor and run upstairs. How James had told her to protect Harry, and that he would hold him off. How she had been hit with the killing curse…  
A sense of urgency filled her suddenly, and she tried to get up, to lift her body from the floor. Lily noticed that she was still in Harry's nursery, or what was left of it. The only light in the room was from the lamp in the corner of the room, and even that had been knocked over, dimming it considerably. She noticed that she was covered in dirt and broken pieces of wood, and most of the roof and the outer wall had been blasted off. It was then that her eyes landed on the crib.

" _Harry…_ " she whispered, terrified to go over to look what Voldemort had done to him. Her baby son. Her heart sank.

Slowly she started to drag her heavy body along the floor of the nursery, towards the crib. Lily tried to get up but found that her legs wouldn't support her. Her entire body was shaking in anticipation. Maybe a combination of shock and dread. She didn't quite know. All she knew was that she had to get to that crib, despite the great pains shooting through her with every inch. So many feelings were flowing through her all at once, it made her feel very overwhelmed. Suddenly, a desperate cry filled the room. It startled her at first, but she was relieved. He was alright. Voldemort had not managed to kill him.

Arriving at the crib, at last, Lily leaned into it carefully for support as she got on her knees. There he was, her baby boy, sitting in the crib crying quietly to himself. She was shocked when she looked at him. There, on his forehead was a bright red lightning bolt scar. Immediately when Harry laid his eyes on his mother, he started wailing and crying heavily, like any child in the presence of their own mother.

"Hey, love, shush. Mommy's here," she spoke soothingly, lifting Harry carefully out of his crib and into her arms. He clutched to her tightly, like any terrified child would. It made her wonder how long she had been unconscious. How long he had been so scared and alone. A few tears escaped her eyes just then. Her overwhelming feelings finally getting the better of her.

Lily just sat there like that for a while, holding her baby boy tightly to her chest, staring into nothingness. His presence calmed her greatly and helped her finally calm down her breathing. It helped her think clearly, at least for a bit. It was unclear how long they sat there like that, but when the moment passed at last, Lily was able to get up again. Stand on her own two feet. She held Harry close to her as she walked over to the nursery door. It wouldn't open. She realized that for all she knew, James might not be alive. He might be lying dead somewhere.

"Oh, blasted door. C'mon, open." She hit her body hard against the door a couple of times, trying to nudge it at least a little bit, but it didn't even more an inch. Her first thought was to look around for her wand, but it was nowhere to be seen among the wrecked room.

"JAMES!? JAMES!?"

Lily screamed at the top of her lungs as she continued to hit the door with her shoulder and arms. Begging for a reply, for her husband not to be dead. She wouldn't be able to bear it. She was growing more and more hysteric by the second, more desperate. More confused, more afraid.

"Please! JAMES!?" she called again, tears welling up in her green eyes. "Is anybody there?"

Faintly Lily finally heard some movement from somewhere in the house. Someone was coming up the stairs hurriedly.

"Hello?"

"LILY?" a desperate voice called out from further down the hall. "Lily, are you alright?"

"James?"

"Yes, it's me, Lil, I'm alive! Are you alright?" James almost shouted. "-i-is Harry…?" he stopped short. Lily could only imagine what was currently running through his mind.

"He's alright! We both are!" she almost laughed back, a few tears running down her cheeks once again, this time because they were alive. They were all alive.

* * *

 ***James' POV**

* * *

James supported his wife carefully through the hallways of Hogwarts, holding her close to him. Whether it was for her sake or his own, he couldn't properly tell. They had escaped what was left of their home and were hurrying over to Dumbledore's office. They had to speak to him, explain to him what had happened. How they had survived. Lily held a sleeping Harry in her arms, and she was holding him tightly to her chest, almost like she was afraid that he would disappear if she didn't. The walk from Hogsmeade to the castle had felt very long, almost never ending. Every time the two of them met eyes, it was only to be met with the same tense and horrified expression. He studied his wife as they walked, she was covered in wood chips, dirt, and blood. He could only imagine what he himself looked like.  
They were just about to enter Dumbledore's office when he noticed the arguing coming from the other side of the door.

"They can't be! No! Never!" There was a loud thud, almost like someone had just knocked over a chair. "You are lying. Sirius would _NEVER_ betray them like that. "

"Listen to the facts, Mr. Lupin."

"No! You listen. IT. IS. IMPOSSIBLE!"

Suddenly there was a crash coming from inside of the room, almost like glass objects being hurled and broken. At first, James assumed that someone had done it accidentally, but as the banging and breaking continued, he realized what was happening. In all of his years knowing Remus Lupin, he had never been a witness to him being in such a state. He had snapped completely.

"Remus, calm down for Merlin's sake!" what sounded like Alastor Moody snapped.

For a moment everything was entirely silent until Dumbledore spoke up again.

"What Alastor here was trying to say was that as the Potter's Secret Keeper, Mr. Black was the only one that could have informed Voldemort of the Potter's whereabouts. And for the moment, Mr. Black is missing, nowhere to be found."

"What about Peter? Have you informed him of this?"

"No, we could not locate him either."

Once again there was silence in the room. It was a deadly and hopeless kind of silence, so quiet that it almost became loud. James locked eyes with Lily, before opening the door carefully. What met them there was at first confusion, then relief, but at last, anger. In the room was Dumbledore, together with Alastor Moody and Remus, but also Alice and Frank Longbottom, as well as a couple of Aurors that he could not properly identify. Remus was standing there, pale and wet-eyed, in the center of the room. The second their eyes met, he came running across the room, embracing James in a hard, desperate hug.

" _You're alive. You're alive. You're alive._ " Remus kept whispering over and over, as he sobbed into his chest.

All eyes were on them, eying them suspiciously at first, but once they noticed a sleeping Harry in Lily's arms, some of them relaxed once more.

"How is this possible? How are you alive?" Moody almost barked in astonishment, still giving them a suspicious eye.

"We were hoping you could answer that. What happened? Where is Voldemort?" Lily answered as she sat down in one of the armchairs carefully, looking from Moody to Dumbledore in the hopes of an answer.

"Voldemort is gone. At least for now." Dumbledore spoke "The scar on Harry's forehead speaks it all. Those kinds of scars only occur after there has been dark magic involved. He came to kill Harry, but failed to do so."

Lily's eyes widened in shock. James could barely believe it himself. Had Harry, his 1-year-old child, just defeated Voldemort?

"But how can that be? How are we alive? He cast the killing curse on me. I felt it, curse through my body. I felt my life leave. But I still woke up." James said after a few seconds, confusion running through him.

"I'm afraid I cannot answer that question. At least not yet. It's a miracle that you survived, especially so that you ALL survived."

James gave a sigh of defeat but nodded. He understood that although Dumbledore was a wise, old man, he could not know everything. Although at times like that he certainly wished that he did. Instead, he sat down at the armrest of Lily's chair, taking her left hand in his, holding it tightly. She looked up at him, smiling weakly to try and comfort him. They both needed that.

"Oh, one more thing."

"What is it, Mr. Potter?"

"Sirius was never our Secret Keeper. He was just the decoy."

"Then who was it?"

"Peter. Peter was out Secret Keeper. We realized that no one would imagine that we had chosen him, so he would be safe."

There was a shocked silence in the room, some looked shocked, afraid even, at this sudden reveal. Dumbledore just looked at him from above his glasses, eying him carefully. It was then that James realized what had really happened. Peter had betrayed them. He had given them away to Voldemort freely.

"That RAT." Remus almost screamed, suddenly starting to pace around the room.

James could tell he wanted to break something, but that he tried to hold himself back. To keep collected to some degree.

"That is probably why you can't find any of them Alastor. James, did Sirius know that Peter was the Secret Keeper?" Frank Longbottom said. When James nodded, he continued. "Peter has probably run away, and Sirius is going after him.

James nodded once again, looking at Dumbledore for any clue. Any indication as to how to proceed. Honestly, all he wanted to do was go to sleep. The past few hours had been exhausting, and it was the middle of the night by now. His body was aching terribly like he had been hit repeatedly with a Beater's bat.

"There is something else you should be aware of."

"What?" Lily almost whispered, sharing a look with James, before starting intensely at Dumbledore again.

"A while ago I got a notice that Death Eaters have attacked St. Mungo's hospital."

"What!? Why would they attack there? What could they possibly want?"

"Oh, they made it quite clear by their attack pattern by what they are after. We sent some people down there to help a while ago."

James just shook his head, trying not to cry. Lily, however, started sobbing almost immediately. It had been a rough day. He hadn't seen her cry like that in months. A desperate, silent cry.

"A-any news?" she managed to utter between sobs.

"Sadly, no."

* * *

Most of St. Mungo's Hospital lay in absolute ruins, making it look more like a warzone than a hospital. James and Lily had apparated at site soon after they got the news, leaving little Harry in the care of his Uncle Remus. Partially so that they could leave knowing their son was safe, partially to prevent Remus from doing anything foolish. Lily hadn't truly stopped crying since receiving the horrible news. James felt awful as well, but he had to stay strong. For all of their sake. They were headed towards the eastern part of the hospital, which had obviously also been the target of the Death Eaters.

"James, what if they have -"

"No, we cannot think like that. I'm sure they haven't."

They didn't speak much after that. They just walked quickly but silently further into the hospital. They knew they were on the right path eventually, as they started to pass corpses of patients and healers alike. Occasionally they would pass someone injured, hiding behind furniture or laying at the side of the hallway. He wanted to help them but knew he couldn't. Few asked. As they headed deeper they started to pass healers rushing in the opposite direction. Lily stopped a few of them to ask for directions, to ask where people had gone to seek refuge when the Death Eaters had attacked. He started to imagine that it was her, every time he noticed someone injured or dead. James couldn't look at them anymore, in fear of it being true. Lily must have thought the same, as she suddenly got closer to him, gripping his arm for support or comfort. He felt sick ike he would throw up any second.  
They passed the room she had stayed in, and he found himself lingering on it.

"Mr. and Mrs. Potter?"

A healer suddenly appeared in front of them. He was a tall, middle-aged man with brown, graying hair. His uniform was almost entirely covered in blood, making them uneasy. James nodded carefully.

"This way please, we had to seek refuge further into the hospital when the Death Eaters attacked. If you would please follow me."

Lily followed the healer immediately, walking ahead of James down the rest of the hallways. They were walking fast, almost like the healer was afraid that there might be more attacks coming. James just hoped that it was just a precaution and not something that would happen. He had had enough fighting in the last 24 hours. He was tired. The healer lead them into a part of the hospital they had never been in before. It looked more protective, more closed. After a while James figured that this must be the place they put sick people who were a danger to themselves or others due to their illnesses. Some of the rooms looked almost like prisons. It made him feel uneasy, on edge. It didn't last very long, as they were lead into a big room, what must have been the dining hall. The healer held the door for them, letting them pass into the room.

"Where is she?" Lily asked suddenly, her voice sounding urgent. Terrified.

"There's a back room further back there, that's where we set up for all the children that had to be evacuated."

"Thank you."

It wasn't easy, but the two of them shuffled through the room, past sick and injured. There were so many people in the room that there was barely any room to walk at all. Occasionally they would receive an understanding glance from one of the healers or Order members if they recognized them. At last, they saw the back room, and Lily gave him a weak smile.

"At last." she breathed.

What met them in the room, however, was not at all what they had expected. James could feel his entire body grow stiff, as deadly anger filled him to the very core. He balled his fists and could've sworn he saw red.

" Who's idea was this?!" he almost screamed to the healers across the room.

What met him was a crowd of shocked and startled healers, all giving him uneasy looks. Lily tried to soothe him, brushing his lower back carefully, but it didn't help. James glared at each one of the healers, in turn, annoyed that none of them would present him with an explanation.

"James, calm down." Lily tried

"No! I don't even understand how you can be calm right now. You know what he is."

Lily gave him a sad look, and he knew he had been right. She knew perfectly well.

Finally, an elderly healer hurried over to them. She was small and gray, but all the same looked like she could tackle a grown man with no difficulties. Maybe that was why they sent her, James thought.

"Mr. Potter, when the Death Eaters attacked we had to evacuate everyone in here, especially the children. Unfortunately, she would not stop screaming. We tried everything to calm her, but she started to kick and bite. He came with the team Dumbledore sent." the lady began, sending looks between the child and him. "She calmed down with him."

James looked over there once again. She looked very calm, safe almost, in the lap of none other than Severus Snape. Their 3-year-old daughter, Emerald Lily Potter.

* * *

 ***Lily's POV***

* * *

James and Lily only slept a few hours that night. Dumbledore had let them stay in the hospital wing, to make sure no one came after them while they slept. After being confirmed of Voldemort's disappearance, Lily felt calmer than she had in years, more safe. However, when early morning came, yet another problem found its way into their lives. It arrived with Dumbledore around 5 AM.

"What is it Dumbledore? Is something wrong?" Lily whispered, trying not to wake the other three sleeping forms next to her.

They had pushed two beds together so that they could all sleep in the same bed. James was still sound asleep, Emerald curled up to his chest.

"I just got a report from the Ministry. They found Sirius."

"Well, we have to meet him, then. Tell him we are alright."

"I'm afraid it won't be that simple. He was arrested for killing Peter Pettigrew and 13 muggles. He was sent to Azkaban without a trial."

"What!?" she burst out more loudly than she meant to. It woke James up.

"What's going on, Lils? What's wrong."

"They have sent Sirius to Azkaban for murder."

This woke him up, and James almost leaped out of bed, pulling on his clothes, buttoning up his shirt within 5 seconds. Lily looked from James to Dumbledore with desperate eyes, carefully letting her hand run over Harry's small body, lingering on his chest for a moment.

"Mr. Potter, there were witnesses that confirmed that he killed those muggles, as well as Mr. Pettigrew. There might not be much we can do."

James just shook his head. Lily's heart sank as she watched him dry his eyes for a moment, before clearing his throat shakily.

"I have to try Dumbledore. He's like my brother…"

Dumbledore nodded, already turning to walk out of the door. James hurried over to her, giving her a long kiss, before hurrying after him.

"I'll be back as soon as possible, Lils."

"Bring him home, James. We'll be fine."


	3. Chapter 2

_**Thank you for all the positive comments so far! This is finally the chapter which really starts off the story of Emerald, and from here on most of the story will be told through her POV. Hope you enjoy!**_

* * *

Emerald had a good childhood. At least she liked to think that she had. She had gone to a private muggle school near London which focused not only on developing skills and obtaining knowledge but creativity as well. Her mother had wanted them to have as much knowledge of the muggle world she grew up in, as the wizarding world they lived in. She didn't want them to become like some witches and wizards that just couldn't function in the muggle world at all. To some degree, she was very grateful to have all of the world opened to her, although she had never really had any friends. There were some she liked and that were friendly to her in class, but they weren't friends, not really. It had some perks, though, which was that she had been able to understand that she loved music, especially singing and dancing and that it was something she really enjoyed doing.  
It was September now, and she was going to Hogwarts in only a few hours. She was nervous and had woken up three hours before she had to. There were so many things to be nervous about. She was nervous to be away from her family, nervous that she would make a fool of herself. There were so many unknowns to account for. What if they didn't like her? What if she weren't skillful enough to live up to her parent's reputation? What if she didn't get into the right house? She tried to occupy herself, knowing that the uncertainty would only get worse if she didn't get up. Didn't do something. So she started her day, took a long shower, got dressed and finished her packing. By the time she had done all of this, the sun was low on the horizon, finally indicating that the day was in full swing. Looking out of her window, she couldn't help but smile a little.

She was deep in thought when Emerald, at last, heard indications of life from the rest of the house. The first person to get up was her mother, and she could hear her careful steps go to the bathroom, and then carrying on down the stairs. Steadily she sat there, deep in thought, only listening to the sounds of the house. Her father getting up, him going downstairs to kiss her mother and tell her how much he loved her, Harry waking up and rushing downstairs. The sudden burst of sounds as Remus and Sirius came over, them soon rushing outside to play Quidditch with Harry. It made her grin to herself.

"Emerald! Breakfast!"

She slid her legs out of bed, stopping by the mirror to brush her now nearly dry hair. What met her there was a pair of deep, green eyes and raven black hair. Not untamable and wild like her brother's, but still just as thick. It framed her face, made it look rounder than it actually was. A few pale freckles occupied her nose, and she knew that as winter came, they would all be gone.

"Good Morning, love."

"Morning, mom," she replied, sending her mom a weak smile as she entered the kitchen.

Her mom had made pancakes for breakfast, her favorite, and handed her a plate when she passed. Emerald sat down at one end of the kitchen table, suddenly noticing how hungry she had really been. She was just about to take a bite of the pancake when the backyard door flew open, and a very muddy Harry came rushing in, a broom in hand.

"Mom? Is it breakfast yet?"

"Yes," she smiled, setting out the rest of the plates of the table. "Tell your dad, will you?"

He flew out again, a grin on his face, and it wasn't long before her father, together with Remus and Sirius, appeared as well, all just as muddy. Emerald just shook her head laughing as her mom sent the four of them a dirty look. The look must have been understood by Remus, as he pulled out his wand and started to clean himself up. Her dad just sent an apologetic look at her mom, not understanding what a mess they had made before it was too late. Remus sat down to her left, brushing her shoulder carefully as he passed. Emerald looked up and met eyes with him. It made them both grin from ear to ear.

"So, do you feel ready? You excited?" he asked.

Emerald swallowed hard and made a grimacing face at him.

"Yeah, I am. But…-"

"You're nervous?" she nodded, looking down. "Don't worry, Hogwarts is an amazing school. You'll like it there, I promise you."

Just then Sirius sat down on her right, grinning from ear to ear. By the time his bum hit the chair he was already stuffing his face full of pancakes. Emerald couldn't help but laugh at the ridiculous sight.

"What?" he asked, his mouth completely full of pancakes, barely managing to get any words out at all.

"Maybe chew a little, Padfoot?" she giggled.

He stood up just then, shaking his head "NEVEER!" he yelled, suddenly tickling her side with all his might.

Emerald almost fell to the floor laughing but managed to get a few good kicks at his shin before losing her balance. Luckily Remus grabbed her before her head hit the floor.

"Okay you two, eat up. We'll have to leave for the platform in 15-20 minutes or else Emerald won't catch her train."

The table went very quiet, the only sound heard was the scraping of forks and chewing. It made her a bit uneasy. It allowed her to think, and thinking only made her overthink. Instead Emerald tried to focus on something else, anything else. She noticed that her mom and dad were holding hands as they ate, occasionally sending each other a loving look. It made her smile. One day she wanted to find someone who loved her just as much as her parents loved each other.

"So, little duckling, think you'll get sorted into a good house?"

"I hope so!" Emerald swallowed, "And I have told you to stop calling me that. I'm not so little anymore, you know." She sent Sirius her best icy glare, which only made him smirk.

"No house is better than the other, Sirius. All of them are wonderful, and have housed great minds from the very beginning." her mom commented.

"Except Slytherin!" Sirius shot out, grinning, high-fiving her dad. "Those are just pure evil, the lot. Nothing good ever comes out of those dungeons."

Her mother got up from her chair, smiling while shaking her head slightly. Emerald did the same, taking her plate over to the counter so her mother could wash it with magic. Although she knew that they were just fooling around, all the talking of Hogwarts houses made her anxious, terrified even. She didn't want to disappoint. They were expecting her to be a Gryffindor like themselves. She knew that.

"Don't worry love," her mother said as if she had read her thoughts, "Don't listen to them. They are just teasing you."

Emerald just smiled. She knew that they meant nothing with it. They were just being childish, careless.

"I'm going to go check that I have everything packed. Call me when it's time to go?"

Emerald hurried upstairs to her room, petting the cat on her way up the stairs. She almost held her breath until she was back behind her door. Her room had almost been entirely stripped of her identity. The only thing that was left was her bookshelf of muggle novels and the awards she had won at her muggle school. Almost everything of importance had been packed down into the large suitcase at the center of the room. An enormous, dark brown suitcase with her initials painted in one corner in dark purple, her favorite colour. She sat down heavily on the bed, trying to soak in all the details of her room as if it was for the last time. At the foot end of the bed was her shoulder bag, which had all the essentials she would need on her train journey. Just looking at it felt surreal, like it was too soon. Like it was just a dream. Slowly she laid down, looking blankly up at the ceiling. She had felt it so many times before, that surging feeling at the pit of her stomach. Feeling like she was going to be sick, but also cry simultaneously. It was a feeling she had felt every time she had to perform at her old school.

"Hey, mom asks if you are ready to go?" Harry suddenly opened the door, looking at her with curious eyes.

Emerald only smiled at him, once again getting out of bed. Carefully she slid her bag onto her left shoulder, before using her right hand to grab the handle of the suitcase.

"Let's go." she muttered, before closing the door to her room.

They were all waiting for her at the bottom of the stairs. Her dad had rushed up to grab her suitcase for her once he heard her coming, grinning at her as he did. It made her nervous again, and she had to grab a hold of her shoulder bag to stop her hands from shaking. Emerald met eyes with Remus, and immediately she knew that he noticed. He noticed how horribly nervous she was.

"Do you want to apparate with me?" he asked, holding out his hand for her to take.

Emerald took his hand happily, immediately feeling the harsh pull of Apparition. It only lasted for a second of two, though, before she found herself looking around in a back alley. She recognized the smell of London almost immediately, having spent so much time there with her muggle school previously. Soon after, her parents, together with Sirius and Harry, also appeared not far from them. Her mother smiled happily at her as they walked out of the alley, and started to walk in the direction of the King's Cross Station. She wanted to smile back, to seem confident, but all she managed was a grimace.  
When they entered the platform, the time was 10:45, which left her family a whole quarter of an hour to say their goodbyes. Emerald wanted to limit it as much as possible, though, and immediately requested that they find her a compartment in the train before doing anything else. Her father and Sirius didn't complain and set off with her suitcase. To her great dismay, they found an empty one in what seemed like no time at all.

"Sweetheart, come here." her mom almost whispered, holding open her arms to give her a hug.

Emerald could feel the back of her eyes sting dangerously as she hugged her mother tightly. She knew that if her mother started crying, she would start to cry.

"You are all grown up, already going to Hogwarts." she heard her mother say with a shaky voice. "J-james, when did we become so old?"

Her father almost had to drag them apart to get a hug himself, but instead of making emotional remarks, he gave a shaky laugh.

"Don't worry, Lils, she'll be home for Christmas. That's only three months away."

Her mother nodded, drying her eyes with the sleeves of her jumper.

* * *

 ***A few hours later***

* * *

Emerald could feel her entire body shaking with anticipation as they were lead into the Great Hall. Her eyes widened at the sight of the magnificent room; the tall ceilings, the hundreds of floating candles above their heads, the enchanted roof to reflect the evening sky. She couldn't help but let her eyes wonder around the room, soaking it all in. It was far more beautiful than she could've ever imagined it to be. The walk down the center of the Great Hall felt like it took hours like it would never end. At first, it was due to all the details that hit her, but once the initial wonder passed, it was due to all the people. All the eyes that were transfixed on them, curious but judging eyes. Emerald thought that maybe they were trying to see if they could determine the houses of the new students before they had even been sorted. Or maybe they just wanted it to be over quickly so they could eat. Both seemed like pretty logical theories.  
The crowd stopped at last in the front of the room. She couldn't see very much, due to some of the taller boys in the front. The only thing she could see was the top of the heads of the teachers up at the table in front of them. She didn't dare to look up at them, though, she was too nervous as she was, and she didn't want to risk meeting anyone's eyes. The Sorting hat started to sing suddenly, making her jump. It was hard for her to concentrate on its words, but she reckoned that it was probably a pretty nice song. It had a calming effect on her. Emerald hadn't noticed that she had stopped shaking at all, until the woman, Professor McGonagall, started to read aloud names, and she started to shake again. She zoned out not long after that, too deep in thought to pay attention. The only thing she noticed was whenever it progressed to a new letter, or if people near her starting pulling forwards. There weren't an awful lot of them left, when suddenly:

"Potter, Emerald."

For a few seconds, she just looked blankly in front of her, as if not realizing that Professor McGonagall had called her name. She started to move forwards slowly, carefully as not to bump into anyone, and moving out of the crowd. The first thing she noticed was the tall shape of the professor in front of her. Next to her was a wooden stool, with the famous Sorting Hat sitting on top of it. Emerald swallowed nervously, before walking up the few steps to the stool. Very carefully she sat down on top of it, as Professor McGonagall took a hold of the Sorting hat. For a moment all the saw was how the entire school had their eyes on her before the hat covered her sight completely.

" _Ah, a Potter. And even a female one! I have been waiting for many decades for that to happen again. You are very alike your parents, but also so different. Very brave, loyal, intelligent. Creative and Resourceful, and knows how to get things done. Where to put you? Certainly not Hufflepuff. Very Ambitious with goals that you are determined to reach. Not many fully understand you, so you like being on your own. Not Gryffindor, not there. Maybe Ravenclaw? It would suit you, but better be:_ SLYTHERIN!"

The moment the Sorting Hat called out the house, she could feel her heart sink in her chest. Professor McGonagall removed the hat from her head almost right away, and their eyes met for a second before she got off the stool and walked, with heavy feet, to the clapping Slytherin table. Sitting down next an older student, Emerald noticed that there was a shocked tension in the room. It was most likely because she, a half-blood, daughter of James and Lily Potter, had been sorted into Slytherin. And she didn't blame them, she was as shocked, and maybe disappointed as them.

"Hey there, I'm Marcus, Marcus Flint. Third year." the boy to her left suddenly turned, shaking her hand in his. Emerald only smiled, still too deep in shock to be able to get any words out even if she wanted to. He didn't seem to mind, though, and just turned back to his friends again. She was glad he did.

There weren't a lot of students left after she had been sorted. At least not compared to the amount sorted before her. Emerald wasn't really paying attention to the rest of the sorting, too deep into her own thoughts to really focus. How would she explain it to her family, that she had been sorted into Slytherin? How would she explain it to Sirius or Remus? How would they even accept her after that? At one point she let her eyes wander around the room, eventually landing on the teacher's table. One of the teachers were watching her with interested eyes, one of the younger ones. He had dark hair and wore all black. She met eyes with him, and for the first few seconds, she thought that it might just be a coincidence. That he hadn't purposely been looking at her. But he kept staring and didn't look away until she did.

"Ehm, Marcus?"

The boy to her turned to her once again, sending her a surprised look. He smiled at her, and immediately she noticed that his teeth were pretty messed up and uneven.

"Yes?"

"Who's the dark haired Professor sitting next to Professor McGonagall?" her voice sounded small, even to her own ears.

"Oh, you mean Professor Snape? He is our Head of House and teaches Potions." as he spoke, Emerald couldn't help but look over at the Professor again, suddenly a bit more curious. "He is pretty strict, so don't come on his bad side, but other than that he's pretty nice. At least to us Slytherins."

She nodded, letting her gaze glide over to the teacher's table once again. He wasn't looking at her anymore, which somehow made her relieved.


	4. Chapter 3

The next day, Emerald woke up clenched in cold sweat. She had a nightmare, and it had been so vivid. Almost like it had been real. Like she had been there. Despite this, she felt it slipping from her mind more and more every second she was awake. Like a worm trying to hide from its predator. It hadn't been real. She could feel her heart pounding almost painfully, desperately, in her chest. It took a while before she was able to think of anything else but her nightmare. It was like it had clouded her mind entirely. When it did slip away, all of the emotions from the night before hit her. She had been sorted into Slytherin. She _was_ a Slytherin. _She_ , daughter of James and Lily Potter. Sister of The-Boy-Who-Lived. The house that had housed all the worst and darkest of wizards and witches, even Voldemort himself. Those that valued dark magic and wanted to ban muggle borns access to magic. Only thinking about it made her feel sick, dizzy even. She couldn't really believe that it had happened. The dormitory around her was almost entirely dark, except for the vague red sparks inside of the oven in the center of the room. It was the only thing illuminating the room. It allowed her to just barely see the clock on her bedside. It was very early, but she decided that it wasn't too early to start her day anyhow. She could hear the heavy breathing of the other girls. They were all still in deep sleep.

The second her feet hit the dormitory floor, shivers ran down the length of her body. It was icy cold. It was so cold that for a moment Emerald considered just staying in bed, but she knew that that wasn't a very good long-term solution. Not when she was so restless. Instead, she got up and opened the top of her suitcase slowly, so not to wake up any of the other girls. They had ignored her altogether the night before, only ever sending her dirty looks occasionally. Emerald understood, though. It was because she was half-blooded. At least that was what she thought. She headed into the bathroom quickly, locking the door very carefully as not to make a sound. The bathroom was fairly big, with a double sink immediately after entering. Opposite to the door was a big shower, hidden behind a dark gray shower curtain. Adjacent to the door was the toilet, and over it was a couple of shelves at their disposal. The bathroom floor was much warmer than that of the dormitory, to her great relief, and a great area of the floor was covered by a fluffy blanket. It allowed her to relax as she pulled on a pair of dark blue jeans and sweater. For once, her hair had stayed somewhat flat over the night, and she tried smiling at her own reflection while brushing it. It made her shake her head at herself. At how silly she was being.

Sirius had always described the Slytherin common room as a cold, dark and gloomy place. Maybe that was why she had been so utterly surprised when one of the Prefects lead them into the common room for the first time the night before. It wasn't cold or dark at all. All the lights were shining brightly, and the enormous fireplace in the center of the room gave off so much warmth and a very comfortable and cozy light. There were also so many different options for seating in the large room as well, from sofas to tables to large armchairs. Of course, all the furniture and decoration was in the Slytherin colours; green or silver, or accompanying gray, black or dark brown. The only thing Emerald found gloomy was that they were underneath the school lake. Instead of seeing the sun outside of the windows, it was only greenish water. She couldn't help but smile a little as she walked through the room again, and although it was a bit darker now than before, she still liked it.

There were not a lot of people in the Great Hall as she entered. Immediately she noted that most of them were either Gryffindors or Hufflepuffs and nearly all of them were upperclassmen. Very few Slytherins were there at all. Emerald sat down at the very end of the table, nearest to the teacher's table. She didn't want to make it too obvious that she hadn't gotten any friends yet, and only having people on one side of her seemed like the way to do it. At least if people avoided her or refused to sit next to her, it wouldn't be so evident. She tried to eat as slowly as she could possibly manage. She didn't want to end up hurrying through the day and end up with nothing to do. Eventually more people started to show up.

«Miss Potter.»

Emerald looked up from her breakfast, trying to find the source of the voice. It was him, the Professor from the night before. Professor Snape.

«Yes?» she asked, suddenly nervous. Had she done something to get herself in trouble?

«Welcome to Slytherin» he all but whispered, putting pressure on each word. His voice was soft as velvet. It made her transfixed, hypnotized almost. She found it very calming.

She cleared her throat nervously. «Thank you, sir.»

«I think you will find that Slytherin is a very good house, that has housed many skillful witches and wizards.»

All she could do was nod submissively, giving him a nervous smile. He handed her a piece of paper, and as she got it in her hand, she noticed that it was her timetable. Potions first thing Monday.

«Hope to see you on time on Monday, Miss Potter.»

«Y-yes, of course.»

With that, he walked away, but Emerald could've sworn she saw the corners of his mouth curve upwards slightly before he went. Almost like a hint of a smile.

Emerald felt confused. As her eyes followed the Professor make his way down the table and noticed that he didn't spend nearly as much time greeting the others as he had her. He barely acknowledged most of the others. She couldn't think of one thing so special about herself, what made her any different from the others.

After finishing breakfast, she decided that she would try to explore the castle before her lessons started on Monday. It was an enormous castle after all, and she didn't know how she would ever get used to it all. There were so many stairs and hallways and rooms. She found it very overwhelming. Still, there was a certain appeal to the enormity of it all. At least she didn't feel strangled or locked up. It gave her lots of breathing space. Emerald looked down at her timetable once more, reading the location of her first lesson. The Potions classrooms were in the Dungeons, so this was where she decided to start. Before really starting, however, she went back to her dormitory to pack a bag. Some parchment and ink in case she ended up needing it. She slipped her timetable into the bag as well, before throwing it over her shoulder.

The dungeons were much darker than the rest of the castle, despite the fact that they were very well lit. Initially, she found them to be very simple and easy to navigate. That is until she actually started straying from the main hallway. The problem was that many of the dungeon hallways looked almost identical to each other. It didn't take long for her to spot the Potions classrooms, though, they were all in the same hallway. For a moment Emerald wondered why it was necessary for so many classrooms when there was only one teacher, but not long after she ended up answering the question herself. Some years were much bigger than others and some were much smaller. Some form of relief rushed through her when she found the main path again and decided that it was far enough dungeons for one day.

She liked the upper floors much better. The ceilings were taller, the hallways bigger and there was so much more to look at. Portraits covered the walls nearly from floor to ceiling, and she noticed that the individuals in them were able to move freely across the frames of other portraits. The fact itself astonished her. How had they managed that? What spell was it that allowed such movement? That connected them all together in a sort of system. Some of the portraits greeted her happily, while some just eyed her carefully, almost suspiciously. A very few even helped her find her way through the many corridors.

* * *

It felt like she had roamed the castle for hours when she, at last, found what she had been looking forwards to all along. The library. From the moment she entered, she immediately knew that she would spend a lot of time in there over the next years. It was far bigger than she had ever imagined, there were books from the floor to the ceilings, and the rows of books just kept going and going almost forever.

«Good Afternoon,» she smiled at the librarian as she passed. The woman looked a little surprised like she hadn't expected anyone in there until at least after school started.

Emerald kept walking further into the library, slowly, to soak it all in. Occasionally her eyes focused on a specific book that stood out from the rest. A guide to Muggle Electricity: How does it really work?, 99 Uses of Dragon Compost, A complete guide to the second gnome war. She couldn't wait to read them, and for a moment she wondered if anyone had ever tried to read all of the books in the library. Maybe Professor Dumbledore had read all of them since he had been there for so long? She let her fingertips carefully brush against the spines of the books, and she smiled to herself.  
When the gates of the Restricted Area entered her vision, Emerald decided to sit down at one of the tables. It was next to a large window, and through it, she could see the sun shining brightly up in the heavens. It warmed her face through the window. It reminded her of home. Home… Suddenly she remembered that she had promised her mother to write as soon as she got the chance. Dread filled her. What would she write? «Sorry mom, dad, I'm a Slytherin. A disgrace. Sorry for the inconvenience.»? They wanted her to write about all the wonderful friends she had gotten, how she loved being a Gryffindor and how she loved the school already. Slowly she placed a piece of parchment on the desk and pulled out a quill and ink.

«Dearest mom, dad and Harry,

I'm sorry that I didn't write sooner, but I have been so busy getting used to the enormous school today.  
And when I found the library, I found it hard to fit anything else into my schedule. It is so amazingly big!  
So far I really like it, and I hope I will get to know a few people over the next couple of days. My head of  
house has been very kind and helpful so far, so at least I do not have to worry about that any longer. I got  
my timetable today, and I cannot wait to have my first class on Monday! I hope you guys are well and  
that you do not miss me too much.

Love,

Emerald»

She folded the short letter and wrote "Mom" on one side of it. She knew it wasn't much, but at least it was something to ease their minds off her. At least they would know that she was alright and that they could leave her be. Emerald couldn't help but smile as she thought about her family, whom she loved very much. Determined she went to try and find the Owlery to post it. While passing the librarian once again, she stopped to shyly ask for directions, which luckily she received. It wasn't very hard, once she got to the moving staircases and worked her way up. It was a very frustrated Emerald that approached the Owlery. The staircases had moved in all the wrong directions, almost like they did it on purpose just to spite her. Halfway up she had almost turned back. Simply given up. But somehow she had made it. And she did get to send the letter. The only problem was that the second the owl flew out of sight, she remembered that she had to walk all the way down the moving staircases again.

 _I know this is a very uneventful chapter, but I felt like I had to include it anyhow. If you have read this far, thank you! Please do review, I love to get feedback, especially if something isn't entirely clear or if something just doesn't make any sense :)_


	5. Chapter 4

She had never been very good at handling «Firsts». She was far too nervous of a person to handle them in a calm and collected way. Instead, she was incredibly nervous and ended up waking up much earlier than necessary, and spending maybe too much energy making every detail perfect. The first day of school was no different. Emerald woke up half an hour before her alarm was supposed to ring, and although she felt very tired, she was incredibly excited to finally learn and obtain skills needed to REALLY participate in the world she had grown up in. It was the good kind of nervous, she decided to herself as she got ready. Put on her shirt and skirt, knee socks and tie. She hadn't noticed before she put the clothes on that her house colours had been sewn on and the house crest displayed, unlike when she bought them, and they had all been blank. Weirdly, she didn't mind the green at all.

The business was in the air, one could almost cut it with a knife, that's how thick and heavy it was. It felt completely different than the other two days, where the air had been calm, quiet. The other girls in her dormitory woke up not too long after her, and even they seemed distraught. Nervous. They barely talked amongst themselves as they got dressed, and Emerald watched curiously from the side of her bed as they fumbled along. Usually, they made all sorts of meaningless chatter. Even worse than some of those she had gone to Primary School with. After trying to let time pass in her dormitory, she decided to head to breakfast alone once again. Not bothering to wait for the other girls. She didn't want to be late for her first lesson. Especially not after the warning from Professor Snape. She did not want to find out how he handled latecomers. Not first hand anyway. In contrast to the other days, there were now a lot of students roaming around. Especially as Emerald started to near the Great Hall, she noticed that the number of people around at that time of the day was much larger than what had been the case over the previous two days. The tables in the great hall were also much more packed. She had to take determined, but mindful strides to find a spot to sit. Mildly speaking, the chaos was nearly overwhelming. That's partly why she ate her breakfast quickly, trying to only select food that would be easy to swallow, and didn't take too much time to chew. It left her with a big bowl of porridge with jam, some eggs and a piece of toast.

Emerald saw the other girls from her Dormitory walk into the Great Hall and sit down after a good while. One of the girls, Alexandra, sent her a dirty look before sitting down. Immediately afterward the other girls turned to look at her while giggling. It made her feel very uncomfortable and self-conscious. What had they been laughing about? Did she look weird? Had she forgotten to brush her hair? Was a button open? Her arm flew to her chest to check that all of them buttons had been buttoned down, and sighed in relief. She still felt like they were watching her, mocking her in some way, though, so Emerald got up and left. While passing them at the table, she felt her heart race. She almost held her breath all the way out of the Great Hall!

Apparently, it was at that time that most of the students made their way to breakfast, as she felt like a fish swimming against the stream walking down to the common rooms again. Few cared that she was walking in the opposite direction, and bumped into her. Some apologized, some didn't. It made her feel very invisible, more than she necessarily wanted to be. It was a sight of great relief when she spotted the brick wall entrance of the Slytherin common room, and she slipped inside and almost ran up to her dormitory, which now laid entirely deserted. Emerald laid down in her bed, letting one hand dangle over the edge. For a few minutes, she just laid there, enjoying the calm and quiet room. The great comfort of the bed. It almost made her want to go back to sleep again, so instead she picked up her backpack and decided to go to class.

The hallway in which the Potions classroom was were entirely quiet. The only sound that could be heard was her own footsteps that seemed almost unnecessarily loud. It made her want to step more lightly, but she knew that she wasn't a stomper. Emerald checked her wristwatch as she stopped, leaning against the dungeon wall. It was only 35 minutes till the class started. She felt nervous still, but it had disappeared a little bit. Somehow living it was much less terrifying than imagining it. Like she always imagined the worst possible outcome of everything, instead of considering the positive possibilities as well. It had only been 2 minutes when she checked the time again. She had gotten the wristwatch from her mother. It had been hers when she was younger, but her wrist had outgrown it. It was a beautiful silver watch with light gray leather straps, with tiny flowers engraved in the leather. She smiled as she looked at it. It made her think about her mother and her family. It was still so strange to be apart from them.

For what felt like the thousandth, Emerald checked the time. Why was she the only one there, she thought. Was she outside of the wrong classroom? Had she received the wrong timetable information? She just stared down at her timetable, sighing weakly.

«Miss Potter? What on earth are you doing here so early?»

She turned quickly, startled by the sudden noise in the otherwise deadly silent hallway. It was him. Professor Snape. Emerald opened her mouth to reply but closed it again not soon after by lack of an explanation. He kept staring at her, his eyes black as coal. She tried to avoid his eyes. It felt like they were judging her, penetrating her mind. Instead, she looked down at the stone floor.

«Now?» he asked again, this time a little more aggressively. Impatiently.

This made her snap her head back up. Their eyes met for a second and she swallowed nervously. «I-I just didn't want to risk being late, Professor.»

«The class starts in 25 minutes.» he sounded astonished.

She nodded slowly, understanding how silly it must sound to him that she met up so early to the class. It might even seem suspicious.

«I'm sorry, sir,» she all but whispered, unsure how to proceed. How was he like as a teacher? Was he one of those that would yell a lot for small issues? Was he one of those that would punish behaviour just for the sake of it? She didn't know. Instead, she just stood there quite nervously, waiting for a verdict.

For a few moments, none of them said anything. Emerald barely dared to breath. She desperately wished for him to say something. Anything. Even if he did punish her or tell her off, at least it would end the terrible waiting. At last, he gave off a long sigh, not a fully irritable one, but more reluctant. Like he suddenly found himself in a situation he didn't like at all.

«Very well. Come with me, you can wait in the classroom.»

Emerald looked up, her eyes shining in surprise. Was he being serious?

«Really?»

«Yes, but do NOT disturb me.»

«I won't, sir, I promise.»

She followed him as he opened the classroom door. He all but flew inside his long cloak billowing behind him. Emerald thought that it made him seem almost birdlike. Professor Snape stopped at the front of the room, slowly pulling up some papers from a drawer in his desk. The classroom was fairly big and had rows and rows of tables. It reminded her of the science classrooms back in the muggle school she had gone to. The walls were almost entirely covered in jars of things Emerald didn't know. She could only guess that they were Potions ingredients and thought that maybe she would learn what all of them were used for by the time she finished Hogwarts. Very carefully she moved forwards in the classroom, choosing a seat on the left side front row. She took the seat nearest the aisle, wanting to be as close as possible to the blackboard. Not many enjoyed that, to sit close to the teacher. Emerald always had preferred it that way. It felt almost like it was easier to absorb the information that way.

As Professor Snape started to flick through his papers and prepare the classroom for the lesson, she pulled up a notebook from her backpack. On the first page, she wrote down «Potions lesson 4. September 1989.» . She wrote very carefully, slowly, as to not spill any ink. Once in a blue moon, her eyes would wander over to where Professor Snape was sitting, studying him, but not long enough for him to notice. Occasionally there was a flickering sound of paper, or him clearing his throat, but other than that the room was entirely quiet. Emerald could almost hear her heart beating in her chest as she sat there, but she was trying to keep busy writing or doodling flowers in the margins of her notebook. It was like her nervousness was resurfacing slowly, just to spite her.

Suddenly she heard the sound of footsteps outside of the door and after that the sound of voices. It made her look up at Professor Snape curiously. He met her eyes and held it. Emerald did not know how to react or what to do, so she just smiled weakly, before looking down at her notebook. He got up, and before she knew it he was billowing past her. He opened the door to the classroom slowly, almost as if trying to claim the attention of everyone who must've been standing outside in the dungeon hallway. She assumed this, as only a second or two later the light chatter had all but disappeared, replaced instead by a deep silence. Emerald heard from her seat that Professor Snape requested the others to find a seat in an orderly manner and that they would start shortly. Not long after, he turned and went back to his desk. At first, the majority of the students streaming into the room was all fellow Slytherins. A few Slytherin boys sat down on the desk opposite of the classroom aisle to her, filling up the entire row. The next row quickly became occupied with other Slytherins, as well as the one behind her. Only a very few from her house sat down in the back. The Gryffindors, however, whom they shared the Potions classes with, had the opposite strategy. Instead of filling up the front seats first, they immediately all but jumped each other for the back rows. It was almost like no one wanted to be too close to the front for some reason. Emerald just shook her head at their silliness. She noticed that the Gryffindors had a twin pair, a pair of identical twin boys with bright red hair. As she looked at her own empty row, she couldn't help but wonder what it would have been like if she had been a Gryffindor like them.

The classroom quieted down not soon after when Professor Snape stood up and with a short wave of his wand, the door shut with a large bang. It made even the loudest Gryffindors stop talking. Emerald looked down at her wrist watch. It was exactly 09:00 AM. A shiver went down her spine at the quietness of the classroom. Professor Snape then proceeded to go through the class register, shooting a short look at each and every one of his students. While he did this she listened to the names. She noticed that a very large part of the names were pure-blooded family names, not only from Slytherin but from Gryffindor as well. There were only a couple that she did not recognize at all.

"Potter, Emerald."

"Here, sir," she replied with a weak voice. Their eyes met for a moment or two before he continued on down the last few names on the list.

"You are here to learn the subtle science and _exact_ art of potion-making," Professor Snape began after everyone had been accounted for. "In this class, there will be no foolish wand-waving, and many of you will hardly believe this is magic at all. I don't expect you to understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses…" he paused, walking to stand next to the blackboard. Emerald all but held her breath. "I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, and even stopper to death. If you can, however, remains to be seen."

Emerald was writing down every single word he was saying in her notebook, trying to keep her handwriting as neat as possible as she did so. Professor Snape started to ask questions concerning the subjects, mainly directed at the Gryffindors in the back. Often those that looked the most lost. She felt a little bit sorry for them, being given questions only one that had actually read the Potions course book could've answered. She figured that he probably did it on purpose. Just to watch them be unable to answer. Even she didn't know all of the answers, and she had been studying all summer.  
After Professor Snape was finished questioning most of the Gryffindors, he told everyone to pair up and start making their first Potion; Cure of Boils. Emerald sat completely still as everyone else moved around to collect their cauldrons and ingredients. Who was she supposed to pair up with? Nobody in the room liked her. The Gryffindors didn't like her because she was a Slytherin, and the Slytherins didn't like her because she wasn't pure-blooded. And it didn't help that her parents had all but ribbed the pure-blooded community during the War when punishing Death Eaters and major sympathizers.

"And why, Miss Potter, have you not paired up with someone?"

Professor Snape suddenly appeared in her field of vision, hovering over her dangerously. Emerald tried to come up with a logical reason, too afraid that he would publicly shame her if she told the truth. That no one liked her. When nothing came to mind, she let her eyes drop to the floor, ashamed.

"Mr. Darthmoth!"

Emerald turned her head to the direction Professor Snape was looking. The Slytherin boy that had been sitting behind her looking uncertainly between the two of them, sitting at the very edge of his seat. She met his eyes for a second, and mutual confusion was echoed in them.

"Yes, sir."

"Pair up with Miss Potter."

"Yes, sir."

The boy rushed to pack up his books and the equipment he had already collected. The other boys at his row, which she assumed was his friends, snickered and kept sending him looks, almost to mock him. Emerald felt almost sick just looking at them, but luckily the boy did not return them. He was too busy getting everything from his desk to the spot next to her. With a heavy thud he sat down on the seat to her left, giving her a weak smile as he did.

"So, cure of boils, huh?" he asked, staring at the blackboard where the instructions had been written clearly by Professor Snape.

"Yes, I guess. Have you ever made it before?"

"No, never. You?"

"Never by myself, no."

They looked at each other for a few moments, and neither spoke at all. At last, Emerald got up, heading over to collect the necessary ingredients. The boy seemed to understand her line of thought, because as she got back he had already prepared the cauldron and made it ready for the first step. She couldn't help but grin at it. They started to make it and found that they were a very good team. Occasionally they would switch tasks, one watching the cauldron or stirring, while the other measured and readied ingredients. It worked out pretty alright for them, and there were no complications while making it. Every few minutes there would be someone that made a horrible mistake, and the cries of others as their Potions boiled too much or nasty smoke erupting from their cauldrons. Emerald couldn't help but smirk as it did. Ultimately, their potion didn't quite have the correct colour, but Professor Snape deemed it the best first try in the class. Most of the class had to stay to clean up the mess they had made. Two cauldrons had nearly melted, and there was acidic residue on the floor around some of the tables. The two of them were let go early, though, which felt like a major reward in itself.

"I'm sorry, I didn't catch your name?" Emerald said as they entered the entrance hall. They had walked entirely in silence, and she couldn't take it anymore.

"Oh, I'm Teagan. I'm sorry, but I'm not really supposed to be around you."

"Why?"

He avoided her eyes for a moment, before smiling weakly. "My family is kind of on a thin thread in the pure-blooded community."

Emerald nodded understandingly, brushing his back very lightly.

"It's alright. You need to do what you need to do. Family is important." she swallowed hard. "I'd prefer if you stayed my Potions partner, though, if you don't mind. You could always tell the others that Professor Snape made you."

He grinned widely at her, nodding in approval. Emerald just smiled back, relieved that the future Potions classes wouldn't be so hard when it came to finding a partner.

"So, Charms?" he began

She nodded, and the two of them continued towards the moving staircases. They spoke very briefly on their way there, but even that felt like more than enough.


	6. Chapter 5

She LOVED learning about magic. Absolutely loved it, more than anything. She couldn't get enough of it. It astonished her greatly every time she learned something new. It felt like she had been blind all of her life and suddenly she could see. Emerald really enjoyed her first week at Hogwarts. Although she still had not made any friends, she loved her classes so much that it almost seemed alright. In every class, she had that week she had met amazing teachers, as well as subjects just as interesting. Although they had not been allowed to actually perform any magic yet, she didn't mind. Theory interested her almost just as much. The most interesting event of the week, according to her, had been when they had their first class with Professor McGonagall, the head of Gryffindor and teacher of Transfiguration, and she had turned herself into a cat with absolutely no warning. Of course, she had seen animagi before with Sirius and her father, but she had never seen anyone else.

Emerald rounded yet another corner in the dungeons. Somewhere on her way down to the common room she had taken a wrong turn, and ended up much further into the dungeons than she had ever been. She hadn't been paying attention to where she was going, too deep in thought. It was Friday, and she had left dinner early to avoid the huge crowds that usually occupied the castle. She wanted some time to herself before everyone got back to the common room. Of course, it didn't go quite as planned when she discovered, at last, that she was nowhere close to the common room. It made her stop, confused, and turn around in a circle in a slight panic. She had no recollection whatsoever of the dungeon hallway she was standing in. It was dimmer than the other hallways, and definitely also colder. She pulled the cloak more tightly against her body, folding her fingers under her arms. For a moment she tried to think back to where she had turned wrong but found herself unable to. She hadn't been paying attention at all.

In an attempt to stay calm, Emerald started to head down the way she had come. She had a small hope that at some point she would recognise a corner or a noticeable detail that would lead her into the right direction. Maybe she would meet someone that would point her in the right direction. Her footsteps echoed loudly in the dungeon hallways. A couple of times it made her stop just so she could listen for any noise. Anything at all. Maybe if she heard talking or someone else's steps, she would be able to follow their noise.

"Well, well, look who we have here."

She spun around, and it was like time slowed down. Standing there, a few feet away, were two of the girls she shared a dormitory with. Alexandra and Carra, together with a group of older students. Most of the group must have been at least 1 or 2 years older than her, Emerald thought to herself as she studied them carefully. Some of them were looking at her with cold stares, while others smirked almost evilly. It sent shivers down her spine, as her stomach sank.

"Hey, Alexandra. Carra. Funny to run into you here." Emerald said, trying to make her voice sound as confident as humanly possible.

Alexandra parted from the rest of the group and approached her. Her dark blonde hair fell in soft curls around her round face. Her eyes were the colour of muddy water.

"Not really, we've been looking for you" Alexandra spoke with an authoritarian voice, and the fact that she was at least half a head taller than her didn't help. Emerald tried to maintain eye contact, to try to seem more confident and strong than she really was. She didn't feel very threatening when she had to look up to meet her eye, though.

"Oh, h-how come?"

"You think you are so much damned better than everyone else, don't you? Just because of you stupid mommy and daddy and little brother. Like you are entitled to respect or something," one of the boys spat out, his voice increasing with each and every word.

Emerald could only shake her head furiously as they approached. The flickering torches cast a dangerous shadow over their faces. She backed away slowly until she felt the wall behind her shaking fingertips. Her heart was racing. This was not how her first week was supposed to go.

One of the older boys separated from the rest of the group and all but pranced over to where Alexandra and Emerald were standing, her palms against the wall, her eyes flickering between the people surrounding her. She was trying to think of a plan. How to avoid any confrontation and get out of there as quickly as possible. The boy had wavy, dark brown hair and as he got closer, she noticed that his eyes were icy blue. He was a little bit over a head taller than her, his frame thin, but threatening.

"But guess what little girl," he began, before kicking her hard in the shin. Emerald cried out as a blinding, intense pain shot through her leg. Tears formed in the corners of her eyes, but she tried her best to keep them from falling. She didn't want them to see her like that - more vulnerable than she already was. "-this is Slytherin." he leant over her dangerously, making her cower in fear. "Here the pure-bloods rule."

Her feet gave in beneath her from the pain, and she hit the floor with a loud _THUD_. It echoed through the hallway, making it sound much worse than it had been. The boy just snickered and yanked her ponytail hard. Emerald screamed and could feel several of her hairs rip out from her scalp. Two of the other boys hurried over to join him. From what she could see through her tears, they looked somewhat similar to each other. Tall, thin, mean-looking. They immediately started to kick her. In the gut, chest, legs, face. Wherever they could manage to get a good blow. She cried out with every blow, crying and begging for them to stop with whatever voice she had left. It came out as sobs and screams, and sometimes no sound came at all. The rest of the group just stood a few feet away and watched, laughing and whispering among themselves. She met eyes with Alexandra for a brief second, and she could've sworn that there was a glimmer to them. Like the sight amused her greatly.

"P-please… Stop…" she sobbed, and for a moment they actually did. Hopeful, her eyes moved from the spot on the stone wall to the faces of her attackers.

"I think you'll find that Salazar Slytherin doesn't appreciate people like you. And nor does his house."

Eventually, they got tired of beating her up, and they left. Emerald laid there, almost paralysed, listening to their fading footsteps. For a long while, she didn't dare to move at all, afraid that they would change their mind and come back. When she was absolutely certain that they were gone, however, she pulled herself up against the wall very carefully. Her entire body ached and burned from the pain, and her foot especially throbbed with pain. Slowly she tried to move it but found that it only shot pain up the length of her body. She could tell that her lip had swelled a lot, as most of her mouth felt almost numb. She cried again. Cried and cried until she physically could not cry anymore, curled up against the cold wall. And then, she passed out.

* * *

xxx

* * *

She woke up to something warm touching her cheek. At first, she thought she was dreaming, that she was just imagining it, but when it happened again. Her eyes snapped open in shock. Her immediate impulse was to push away, scream, but once she understood who it was, her body grew a little bit less tense. Professor Snape was kneeling down next to her, his dark eyes looking her over, concern evident in them. Emerald tried to move, but pain shot through her almost immediately. Almost worse than before.

"I would advise you not to move too much, Miss Potter."

She could only nod weakly. Why had they done it to her? What had she done to deserve it? Why couldn't they just have just hated her from a distance? Sent her passive aggressive looks and comments. At least she could live with that, it wouldn't be the first time.

"My quarters are not far from here, will you be alright with me levitating you? I expect that you won't be able to walk."

Emerald took a deep breath, before replying with a weak: "Okay."

He was right, she would not be able to walk. She could barely move her leg at all without the pain shooting through her. And the Hospital Wing was too far away. Very carefully he helped her lay down on the stone floor. She noticed the painful throbbing across her body even more now. It was such a great contrast to the coldness. It felt good, though, it cooled her body down. Emerald tried to close her eyes as he waved his wand at her. It was a strange feeling, to feel the ground suddenly disappear from under her all of a sudden. No resistance, but still a hint of resistance as well. It astonished her when she opened her eyes to find herself afloat about 4 feet off the ground. She became a little bit anxious that he might drop he or bump her into something. She knew that it only took a moment of distraction for a charm to fail.  
He had been sincere when he told her his quarters were close because very soon they were in front of a dark brown wooden door. It was the only one in sight in the hallway. With a wave of his left hand, it flew opened with a bang. Her entire body shook as it did.

Professor Snape laid her down on a sofa in the very centre of his living room. It was a very dark room, and it took a while for her eyes to adjust to the dim lights. Books covered much of the walls of the room. Directly in front of her was a big fireplace which he lit with a swift flick of his wand. At the corner of the room, there were also two large cabinets and a desk. Professor Snape was looking into one of the cabinets, the clinking of glass sounded clearly in the room. Emerald studied him tiredly. He looked almost like a bat in the dim light, or even a vampire. When he approached, he placed a couple of Potions vials on the coffee table in front of her, as well as an empty bowl and a fabric cloth. With a wand movement, he filled the bowl with water in front of her eyes, and she smiled weakly.

"W-what time is it?" she asked, barely any sound coming out of her. Her voice sounded strained, weak.

Professor Snape met her eyes, before carefully dabbing the now wet cloth to her forehead. He sat down next to her on the sofa, and she could feel it move under his weight. When he pulled the cloth away to re-soak it, she realised that she had been bleeding.

"It is about half-nine. You must have been unconscious for quite a while."

She nodded, wincing in pain as he applied some of the content of one of the vials to the cloth and then dabbed at her forehead. It helped noticeably, however, and she could feel it almost straight away, it was like some kind of pressure had been removed from her head.

"This will most likely be very painful. I need to check the extent of your foot injury," he spoke with a soft voice.

"I don't mind," she replied, although she was very scared. The idea did not sound ideal at all. It was almost like she wanted to tell him to just leave it be, just for the sake of the pain to remain subdued a little.

The second he touched her leg, it felt like she was being kicked all over again. It was like an electric charge shot through her body with every careful touch. Every fingertip. It got even worse as he slowly, very carefully started to pull down her knee sock. Her vision blurred from the tears, and she tried to hold back the sobs that threatened to take over.

"It doesn't seem broken. Luckily. But it is definitely a nasty sprain." he pointed his wand at her foot and made some kind of motion with it. A tugging feeling spread across her foot, before the pain disappeared altogether.

Emerald sighed weakly in relief, pushing herself more into a sitting position, letting her back rest against the armrest of the sofa. Professor Snape got up, as he all but flew back to the cabinet once more.

"Who did this to you?" he suddenly asked, his head still buried in the cabinet.

For a brief second, it felt like she was having a flashback, suddenly remembering everyone's faces from earlier. She wanted to cry, to tell him, to have them punished. What she didn't want, was for them to find yet another reason to come back for her. She didn't want to be the snitch who went running to the nearest adult.

"I-i couldn't tell. I didn't know them."

He pulled back and gave her a look. It looked almost a bit surprised. It was almost like he knew that she was lying, but didn't want to tell her so.

"Very well."

When he came back he had a new potion in his hand, this vial was much bigger than the others and it had a deep green colour.

"Drink this, you will feel better."


	7. Chapter 6

**_08.09.1989_**

 _Dear Emerald,_

 _Hope your first week has been exciting and good! We wanted to wait until your week was over to write you, so you would have more time to focus on your school. The house feels so empty without you here already! I have almost laid out plates for you at dinner at least three times this week. Once I caught myself almost calling you down, as well. How has your first week of school been? Any teachers or subjects you fancy in particular? Have you met anyone interesting? And you never told us which house you got sorted into! Are you happy in your new house? Hope you aren't feeling too homesick!_

 _Love,_

 _Mum, Dad, Harry, Sirius and Remus_

 _P.S: Sirius wanted to know if you had fought any Slytherins or done any pranks yet?_

* * *

 _xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx_

* * *

 ** _09.09.1989_**

 _Dear Everyone,_

 _I really love the school already, and I definitely understand what you have been talking about all these years! The school is amazing, and no wonder you spoke so highly of it. It has been a very hectic first week with a lot of introductions to subjects and teachers, and I really, really think they all sound very interesting. If I were to conclude at this very moment, though, I would probably say that I like Potions and Charms the best. Potions because I seem to have gotten the gist of it already, and Charms simply because Professor Flitwick is very interesting and enthusiastic, as well as I cannot wait to start to learn magic! I have spoken to a lot of people in my year, but I haven't really made any friends in particular yet. I guess that will come with time._

 _And tell Sirius that no, I have not fought anyone and I am not planning to. And that I would prefer to stay out of detention as much as possible._

 _Love,_

 _Emerald_

* * *

 _Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx_

* * *

 ** _15.09.1989_**

 _Dear Emerald,_

 _It's only been me and Harry the past three days. It was just a full moon the other day, and it was apparently a very harsh one on Remus. Sirius and your dad have been over there with him to try to keep him sane. It didn't help that he was also just fired from yet another job, so it really isn't a good time for him. Maybe a letter from you would help? I'm sure he will be very happy to hear from you directly!_

 _I also loved Potions and Charms in my time at Hogwarts, so I hope you will see that they are fine subjects with a lot of interesting material! Harry has really started to miss you! He asked me to send with a picture that he had to do for art class, he said it would be a good reminder of home!_

 _Hope you are well and are enjoying school!_

 _Love,_

 _Mum and Harry_

* * *

 _Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx_

* * *

 ** _16.09.1989_**

 _Dear Mum and Harry,_

 _I really enjoyed Harry's picture! Tell him thanks, and that I taped it onto the lid of my suitcase! I'm sorry to hear about Remus, and I will send him a letter over the next few days._

 _Yes, I really enjoy Potions, and the teacher, Professor Snape is very skilled in the subject! I find his lessons very interesting and enjoyable, and I have found that I am much more skilful than many in my class concerning the subject. I am often awarded points in that class._

 _Love,_

 _Emerald_

* * *

 _Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx_

* * *

 ** _17.09.1989_**

 _Dear Remus,_

 _I hope you are doing well, or at least are on your way to doing well! I really miss you, and although I enjoy school and learning about magic very much I don't really fit in here. I have no friends here, so that makes it a little bit difficult._

 _I sent with this letter a poem I found in one of the books in the library, and I hope you will read it and feel a little bit better!_

 _Love,_

 _Emerald 3_

 _P.S: You wouldn't even be able to guess which Hogwarts house I was sorted into._

* * *

 _Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx_

* * *

 ** _13.10.1989_**

 _Dear Emerald,_

 _Do you have enough warm clothes? We heard that there would be colder temperatures than expected in the Area where the school is in October. We can send you some clothes by owl if you need any more?_

 _The cats really miss you, they keep wanting to go into your room and sleep on your bed. By the time you get home for Christmas break they will probably shower you with cuddles and love. Maybe you can bring one of them with you to school next year? Always good to have a cat keep you company, that way you always have a friend at hand._

 _How is school going? Are you doing alright in your subjects? Is there anything you are struggling with? Do you need us to send you anything at all?_

 _Love,_

 _Mum, Dad, Harry, Sirius and Remus_

* * *

 _Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx_

* * *

 ** _15.10.1989_**

 _Dear Everyone,_

 _Mum, I am doing alright. It really isn't that cold here, and I packed a lot of warm clothes. You notice that it went from fall weather to harsh winter weather, but other than that it's alright! The school grounds are beautiful in between seasons, especially the Whomping Willow, which has grown beautiful fall coloured leaves._

 _I really miss a good cat cuddle. The feeling of a cat cuddling down at the foot side of the bed! I might take a cat with me next year, but I will have to consider it. It would be nice, though!_

 _The school is going alright! I feel like I am standing in assignments up to my knees, so I feel like I live in the school library. Not that I mind that part, since the library is one of my favourite places in the school, but it gets tiring in the end! I almost got detention the other day because I forgot the time and had to run to the common room so not to get caught out of bed out of hours! I know we will progress to doing actual charms and spells soon, and I can't wait! We just need to finish the theory and incantation and wand movement teaching first. To be completely honest, I like the theory as well. Not a lot of people in my class likes that._

 _Love,_

 _Emerald_

* * *

 _xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx_

* * *

 ** _03.11.1989_**

 _Dear Emerald,_

 _Sirius and I have been talking, and we realised that we never learnt your Hogwarts House! We are really curious what our little girl have been sorted as! And we really want to know which colours to repaint your room in, and which cake to make for your homecoming this Christmas!_

 _We really hope you are doing well and that you are doing our reputation only good! Try to stay out of danger, but don't be afraid to test the limits of Professor McGonagall, she is really a very sweet, kind puss. She just doesn't always show it. And to be honest, the other teachers are no big. Maybe watch out for Snape, though._

 _Love,_

 _Dad and Sirius_

 _P.S: We are not actually painting your room - Dad_

 _P.P.S: You never know with us, though, it wouldn't be the first stupid thing we ever did - Sirius_

 _P.P.P.S: I will make sure they don't paint your room. - Remus_

* * *

 _xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx_

* * *

 ** _05.11.1989_**

 _Dear Dad, Sirius (and Remus),_

 _Well, now that I know you plan on maybe, possibly repainting my room, I am definitely not telling you which house I got sorted into! Better be on the safe side, in case Remus do not manage to hold you off!_

 _Hope you are doing alright! And please, don't do anything mum would kill you guys for! Because she will kick your ass._

 _Love,_

 _Emerald_

* * *

 _xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx_

* * *

 ** _24.11.1989_**

 _Dear Emerald,_

 _First things first, you received a letter in the mail today! I opened it, and found out that it was a leaflet for the Creative summer camp this year. It said that they really wanted to sponsor you to Spain for this coming summer camp, and it asked for you to fill out which "classes" you wanted to attend. Your dad and I figured that it would be good for you to see it for yourself, so I send it with! I read through it all, and it looks very much like the one you attended in France two years ago! If you want to sign-up for it, just sign the information and send it back to us. I will then send your dad to post it on his way to work._

 _It's almost Christmas now, and soon you will be coming home! Is there anything in particular you wish for Christmas? Harry has been missing you a lot, especially as he now has to do his homework all alone after school. I know he is counting the days till he sees you again._

 _Love,_

 _Mum, Dad, Harry, Sirius and Remus._

* * *

 _xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx_

* * *

 ** _25.11.1989_**

 _Dear Everyone,_

 _I sent you the leaflet back, and I am really excited to go! I figured that I would want to take at least one class in each area, just to get as much as possible out of the experience. I almost can't wait for summer to be here already, so it definitely feels good to have something like that to look forwards to._

 _I can't think of anything in particular that I wish for. Maybe a book or some new clothes? I know that whatever you choose to get me, I will be happy for it. I miss you guys a lot as well, especially Harry! Can't wait to come home!_

 _Love,_

 _Emerald_

* * *

 _xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx_

* * *

 ** _01.12.1989_**

 _Dear Emerald,_

 _You are coming home soon, and we can't wait! It will be so good to have you back home with us!_

 _Not much is happening over here with us these days. I have given Harry and your father a no-flying punishment for now, as they were almost spotted by an elderly muggle couple the other day! They had been flying over the woods behind our house, and didn't come to think that there are hiking trails in the woods. Luckily for them, the elderly couple did not spot them at all. I really don't want them to end up being punished by the Ministry of Magic for something as silly as being seen flying a broom by muggles. Astonishingly, Harry didn't seem to mind the punishment at all. Maybe he thought it was suitable?_

 _Is school still going fine? Of course, you will have plenty of time to tell us all about school when you get home, so I won't bother you with too many questions in this letter._

 _Love,_

 _Mum, Dad, Harry, Sirius and Remus._

 _P.S: Either myself or your dad will come and pick you up from the Platform on the day you come home._

* * *

 ** _Hope those of you who have read this far enjoy the story! The next chapter will be about Christmas break for Emerald, and will most likely be a 2 or 3 part connected chapters. I try to update as often as possible in between my University assignments, but I have a goal that I will have this story fully updated from the old "original" story by the end of January, maybe before. If you haven't read the old, "original" document, don't worry. This is newer and better. Also, this one has a lot of new details and is not identical at all to the old one. The main plot is the same, but so far I have made a few changes and additions. If you read the old one and just arrived at this one, thanks for the enduring support! Stay tuned for more._**


	8. Chapter 7

Before she knew it, Christmas break had already crept up on her. It snowed heavily all through November and December, leaving the Hogwarts School grounds with a thick duvet-like layer of snow. It had been cold, very cold, especially down in the Dungeons. Emerald had felt very compelled to wear gloves to some of her classes, especially her Potions classes. Many of her fellow pupils spent a lot of their free time outside building snowmen, having snowball fights (especially fun and aggressive with magic, she heard a Hufflepuff say while passing her on the way to class one day) She personally preferred to stay indoors studying, usually curled up in bed or by the fireplace in the Common Room. It was no fun to be out in the biting cold without anyone to share it with. Excited but somewhat reluctantly she had signed herself up to the list of students going home over the Christmas Holidays. Rumour around the common room had it that very few of the Slytherin members ever stayed over for Christmas, and most of those that did were upperclassmen that prioritised studying above seeing their family. Emerald was really looking forward to seeing her family, she really did. For her, the past three months had gone by really slowly, but also incredibly quickly. So much had happened, yet so little. She wanted to tell her family everything in great detail but had a sinking feeling that they would not take well the fact that she had ended up in Slytherin. The house where all evil came from. Voldemort himself had been a Slytherin.

Emerald arrived at the train station relatively early, and she took one of the very first carriages going down from the school to the platform. She had passed a lot of students saying goodbye to their friends and housemates when crossing the Entrance Hall, and at that moment, felt more alone than ever. Before she came to Hogwarts she had always imagined that she would be one of those people. Surrounded by friends, and they would do all sorts of fun stuff together. Never once had she considered that she would end up being alone. The train was all but empty when she arrived, so Emerald took her time choosing where to sit, walking down the train slowly, her suitcase wheeling behind her. She had her eye set on capturing a window seat, which in her opinion was the best ones, preferably one in the centre of the train where it was warmer. It took a while, but once she settled on a compartment, she proceeded to lift her suitcase onto the rack above her head. This she managed with some difficulty. She hadn't packed a whole lot, really, just some clothes and necessary course material so she could study over the break. The teachers had not given them a lot to do over the break, but she still wanted to do some studying. Better safe than sorry.

After a while more and more people started to appear at the platform, chattering loudly as they boarded the train. Most of them were hurrying in groups down the length of the train to try to find empty seats together. Emerald just closed the compartment door slowly while simultaneously removing her winter coat. It felt damp in her hands from all the snow that had landed on it while she had been outside. It was snowing steadily outside at that point, and it was not showing any signs of stopping anytime soon. Soon after she had sat down, a pack of girls peeped curiously into her compartment, looking her up and down slowly, before laughing to themselves and carrying on. They were older than her, maybe 4th years or 5th years, she deduced, and she knew they weren't Slytherins. She would have recognised them if they had been.

As she sat there in her compartment, waiting for the train to finish boarding and finally leave, no one came in to sit with her. Quite a few looked at her through the compartment door, but none showed any real interest in sitting there. This came as both an incredible relief, but also a great disappointment. Somehow, deep down, she had hoped that someone would come in and talk to her. That the Slytherin isolation would end at some point soon. Somehow her body kept hoping, despite the clear evidence of that not happening anytime soon. She smiled at people in the train aisle, despite them not wanting to voluntarily meet her eye, and back at school she always tried to sit closer to people during meals and to be cooperative and nice to those that the teachers forced to partner with her in the many classes they had. Some didn't seem to mind her one bit, but the Slytherin reputation kept them from really proceeding. She liked the Hufflepuffs in her classes the best, at least they did not ignore her completely. They acknowledged her presence.

The train ride back to London felt very long. Twice she decided to walk up and down the length of the train, both times asking the conductor curiously how far along they had gotten, and how far they still had to London. Emerald could feel the dread in the pit of her stomach growing with every minute, like a black hole slowly, but surely expanding and pulling her in. Eating her up. When she finally did sit down again, she noticed that her right leg kept bouncing almost continuously, despite her best efforts to stop it. Nervous bouncing. As a last resort, she shifted in her seat, curling her right leg under her left thigh. She knew that this would result in the foot falling asleep, but thought it seemed like a much better option than the bouncing and shaking.

By the time they were nearly halfway there, she tried to occupy her mind by reading in her History of Magic course book. She really wanted to do well on the exams in June, but found the subject dreadfully boring, like the majority of her fellow classmates. There was nothing but theory and facts upon facts. It was not that the topics were boring, overall, but rather that the teacher made it seem like they would die of boredom. _Literally._ He really did not know how to create classroom involvement, but just went on and on about fact after fact. Her classmates often joked about the fact that the class was so boring that the teacher himself had died. She just hoped that the subject would become easier over time, as she got used to it. There was one thing that she knew for certain, however. History of Magic would be the first subject to go when she would be allowed to choose her NEWTs.

Somewhere along the way of reading about the History of Magic, Emerald dozed off with her forehead leaning against the icy cold train window. When her eyes opened again, she noticed that the scenery had changed almost completely. Instead of white plains as far as her eyes could see and bare trees, very little snow remained, and city signs were evident. She could see houses in the distance, and although the familiarity was welcoming, it also felt like someone had punched her in the gut. Her eyes then drifted to the book that was now lying open on the floor, content downwards. As she picked it up, she noticed that she had only covered 1 and a half chapters. Much less than she had anticipated that she would cover during the train journey. Still, something was better than nothing.

Emerald got up from her seat, stretching her arms above her head as she let out a long groaning jawn. Her entire body felt stiff like she had been sleeping in a very awkward position. Which she probably had. The foot she had been sitting on was almost completely asleep, giving her a familiar but horrible pricking sensation as she tried to move it around. She pressed her face against the window, squinting her eyes, trying to see if she could spot any city in front of the train. Once she realised that it wouldn't really be possible, she fell heavily back into her seat. It wouldn't be long until they would arrive, and she really couldn't wait.

* * *

 ***** 40 minutes later *****

* * *

Emerald could feel her body tense up as she was getting ready to leave the train. It had slowed down and was approaching Kings Cross Station. The city was surrounding them on all sides, and she couldn't help but look out of the window at the occasional pedestrian. She spotted muggle families every once in a while, hurrying about their days, unaware that they were being passed by a train full of young witches and wizards. The thought made her smile to herself. It would be good to be home again, she decided. To be together with the people that cared about her. Maybe it would help her keep her mind off the bullies at school. If only just a little bit.  
She lifted the heavy suitcase down from the rack above her head, with much more difficulty than when she had put it up there earlier, and put it on the floor with a loud _thud._ The boys in the compartment opposite to hers sent her a curious look as it did, but she only smiled weakly back at them. The suitcase had her initials on it, "EP", and next to it she had glued a few plastic diamond studs. She had wanted it to be somewhat unique at the time, and although she still found it very pretty, some part of her wanted to just pry them off. Much of the confidence she had to be different from her peers had long gone.

Once the train had fully stopped moving, Emerald put on her jacket and slung her bag over her shoulder. There were a lot of people on the platform, but not nearly as many as when she had first gone in September. For a moment she tried to see if she could spot any of her parents, Harry, anyone she recognised, but the crowd was too thick. Once she found a gap in the crowd going through the train aisle, she hurried out of the train compartment, the suitcase following close behind her. Carefully she stepped down onto the platform, before lifting the suitcase down as well. The familiar London smell hit her nostrils right away, and she smiled. Fellow students were rushing to their families, or just leaving the platform in groups, laughing amongst themselves as they did. Emerald tried to spot any signs of hers again but decided to just start walking through the crowd. It would be better to stand by the wall, than risk blocking the train exit for anyone.

"There she is! Mum, I see her!"

Emerald moved her head to the left and was barely able to make out a head of messy black hair before a slightly shorter body hit her own, almost knocking her over. Harry had all but jumped on her, hugging her tightly, grinning up at her.

"Hey, there kiddo. You miss me?" She grinned back down at him, before pulling away from him.

"Yeah, it's not really the same at home without you, Em."

She laughed, letting her hand rub his hair playfully. She noticed her parents finally managing to catch up with them, struggling a little bit more to manoeuvre through the crowd than Harry had. Both of them smiled happily as they spotted her.

"Emerald!"

"Hey there. Funny meeting you guys here," Emerald said, watching her father grin widely only a millisecond after she had.

"Oh, you know, we were just in the neighbourhood."

Her mother just shook her head, but she was smiling widely all the same. They could all tell that she thought it was just as funny as they did, but she usually did not take a direct part in their jokes. She pulled Emerald into her arms, hugging her close, giving her a soft peck on the top of her head as she did. Her father didn't hesitate to come over as well, hugging them both so tightly that she could barely breathe for a second or two.

"You ready for a well deserved Christmas break?" her mother asked, at last, moving them all towards the exit of the Platform. Her father had taken the suitcase, walking a few feet behind them.

"Yeah, definitely!"

They exited the platform together, and she felt that it would be wonderful to be back home.


	9. Chapter 8

The first couple of days of Christmas Break had been wonderful. It felt very good to be back with people that she could properly relax around, and truly be herself. Like the proper older sister she was, she forced Harry to join her outside in the snow on numerous occasions. It didn't seem like he minded at all, though, and Emerald could tell that he had missed the company just as much. So when she asked him if he wanted to help her build a snowman outside, he was the first one out the door.

"It's pretty boring here with you gone," Harry said with a sigh while trying to roll the bottom snowball for the snowman.

Emerald could only smile reassuringly in his direction. "Well, you do have Sirius. He's pretty much the 3rd Potter child, and he must come around often still, right?"

He laughed, grinning back at her, his eyes shining with delight behind his round glasses. She could just about make out the beginning of his lightning bolt scar below his knitted hat, it was clear on his pale skin in the bright winter light.

"I guess it's pretty alright here. It is pretty lonely at school without you, though," Harry began, panting and groaning in between words to give the few final rounds to the now pretty huge snowball - "There was this incident a few weeks ago. The bullies a year above me came running after me during break, and before I knew it I had zapped myself onto the roof! When I was caught up there, I got detention, and they even called mum and dad to speak about my unacceptable behaviour…"

She nodded, remembering well how a few in her year and the year below her used to torment and bully many in the school, particularly the two of them. They were easy prey; weird siblings with no actual friends in school.

"Maybe you should tell mum and dad that those kids are bothering you. They might be able to talk to the school."

Harry just shook his head, and straightened his glasses with his middle finger, finally finishing the snowball.

"Telling on them would probably just make it worse. And besides, they are just a bunch of muggle jerks."

She nodded, understanding all too well how it felt to not want to tell anybody that someone was bothering you, being nasty to you. She hadn't told on her housemates that were bothering her either, even though Professor Snape has given her the chance to do so all those weeks ago. At least when the two of them were in the same school they had each other, and they could help watch out for the other one. They were a team.

Emerald started to roll the middle snowball over to where he had stopped with the other one, and he quickly got over to help. Between the two of them they just barely managed to get the snowball on top of the other one safely, and it took quite some time before they could get it to stay on properly. Once it actually stood by itself, though, they both let out a deep sigh of relief. Harry then went on to create the head, while she went off to collect twigs and stones for them to decorate it with. The sun was starting to set slightly, and it was slowly, but steadily growing dimmer and dimmer every minute.

"Are you ready with the stones and twigs?" she hear Harry say behind her.

"Yep. You ready with the head?"

"Mhm," he pushed the snowball over to the rest of the Snowman. "I can manage this alone, but you should probably make sure it doesn't fall."

Emerald put the twigs down on the ground not far from the Snowman, before putting her arms up to support the head. She had to put snow into the cracks to make sure it stuck to the body of it. It almost made it look like it had a neck. Almost. They then stuck on twigs for arms and made buttons, a smile and eyes with the stones she had collected.

"Something is missing…" she said, studying the snowman with a frown.

"It hasn't got a nose!" Harry exclaimed after a while, before running towards the house, ripping the back door open. He wasn't gone very long, only a few seconds, but when he got back he had a bright orange carrot in his hand.

He had just barely made it back to her when their mother poked her head through the same door.

"Dinner will be ready in about 45 minutes, so if you two want to get changed before dinner you better do it very soon."

"Yes mum!" they said in unison, laughing after they did. Harry continued by sticking the carrot into the snowman head. He had to put it very far in before it actually stuck to it.

"There's still something missing, though. It looks so plain…" she almost whispered. Harry just looked at her curiously, clearly unsure about what she meant. "Oh, I know!"

Emerald hurried over to their old treehouse and found one of their old treasure chests. It contained all kinds of costume pieces that they used to wear as they played when they were younger. She did not find what she was looking for right away, but once she had almost reached the very bottom she found it.

"No wizard snowman without a pointy hat," she exclaimed loudly as she presented it to Harry. His eyes lighted up and he smiled. "Put it on, and make it complete at last," she gave him the hat, smiling proudly as he put it on top of the snowman's head. Suddenly it had gone from being an ordinary snowman to an extraordinary wizard.

After finishing the snowman outside, the two of them hurried inside to get cleaned up and changed before dinner. They had to hang up most of their clothing by the fireplace since they were all so soaked with snow. Emerald hadn't really realised how cold she had been before she stripped off all her wet clothes and took a quick body shower. Once finished, she could not help but fall back onto her bed, closing her eyes and letting out a loud sigh. In reality, she had not slept very well the night before. She kept having this horrible nightmare, and it woke her up again and again. It had been so incredibly vivid, almost like she had been there. Her bed felt extremely soft and warm against her limbs after being outside in the cold snow for so long. She almost fell asleep then and there, but it was like her entire body had a vivid memory of the night before, and kept her from it. Like it had braced itself for more nightmares. She often had that. Not one nightmare, but ten. Never one. As long as she could remember. Occasionally it would haunt her during the day as well. So instead of sleeping, Emerald got up from the bed again and wriggled out of her towel, hanging it over the desk chair. She put on one of her favourite dark blue jumpers, as well as a pair of black trousers. In her opinion, putting on clean and fresh clothes after being cold and wet outside, was one of the best feelings in the world.

Suddenly the sound of the front door opening and then closing with a loudly was heard across the house, soon followed by laughing and loud speaking. Emerald knew right away that that could only mean that Remus and Sirius had arrived. She smiled a little to herself, before combing through her dark locks in front of the mirror. So many tangles had formed when they had been outside. Before heading down, she put a blue hair clip on either side of her head to keep her hair from falling into her face. Sure enough, as she walked down the stairs she spotted them both. They were standing by the fireplace together with Harry, talking cheerily amongst themselves. Remus was the first of them to spot her, and he gave her a small smile as he approached her, pulling her into a warm hug.

"It's good to see you again, Emerald," he said.

His skin had a pale, almost waxy colour to it, and Emerald could've sworn that his hair looked even more shabby than usual. He looked really, really wore out, sick almost. She tried to remember how the moon cycle was in comparison to that evening, but could not recall whether the full moon had already passed or if it was near. If he was sick because he had the transformation coming, or if he was sick because he had a rough transformation. She wrapped her arms around him tightly, resting her head lightly against his chest for a moment, before they both pulled away. She always made sure she was the last to pull away, especially when he was like that. She then proceeded to hug Sirius, who by now had noticed that she had entered the room. He lifted her up from the floor as he hugged her, swinging her a little back and forth playfully. Emerald laughed a little, although whining for him to put her down. This only made him grin and give a booming laugh, and it seemed to fill the entire room. Once she was allowed to stand on her own two feet again, she could study his appearance as well. He too did not look very well. He looked like he had not gotten a good night's sleep in a good while. But he looked more hungover than sick.

"I have missed you both so much!" she said, at last, looking from one to the other.

Just then, their father came in from the kitchen. He was wearing one of the jumpers their mum had made for him. She wasn't really that good at knitting, as she was a self-taught knitter, and had only decided she wanted to really do it a few years prior. She had gotten a lot better than she used to be, growing up Emerald and Harry occasionally had to wear hats and scarves and socks that were very clearly made from someone at the beginner level. Still, the jumper their father was now wearing was a great improvement to that, but it still looked a bit off. For one, it was too big for him, and the arms weren't really quite proportional. Occasionally you could also spot holes in it where she had made a mistake. Still, it seemed like their father did not mind one bit, as he wore it anyhow.

"Dinner's almost ready. Hope everyone's hungry because I swear to god if we have a lot of leftovers I will force you to take some home. We're not doing last year again, eating Italian leftovers for weeks together with Christmas leftovers."

A few years prior Sirius had come up with the idea to start eating non-traditional food on the days leading up to Christmas so that they wouldn't be tired of it by the time Christmas actually arrived. This lead to a tradition being made of always eating Italian inspired food on the day before Christmas Eve. It was a really nice tradition, and the Italian-inspired food was always delicious.

"How's the job search going, Moony?" he said, after sitting down on the armrest of one of the sofas, eyeing Remus curiously through his rectangular glasses.

Emerald sat down on the sofa near her father, carefully looking between the three men. A tense air was filled between them.

"Nothing yet, Prongs. I found one, but it didn't allow more than 2 sick days a month, so I had to pass it."

The two other men nodded, and she noticed that her father send Sirius a look, which he returned.

"You know you are always welcome here."

Remus shook his head. "You've already done more than enough for me. I couldn't take advantage of your money like that… - "

"Just till you find a job, Remus. If that is what you want."

They were all quiet for a long time. Emerald turned to Harry and asked him how the Quidditch Season was going. This made her brother light up like a candle, and he was soon deep in a retelling of the matches so far, and how he hoped and prayed that it would progress further. He and her father basically lived and breathed Quidditch, not particularly cheering for one particular team, but loving several of them. Harry loved to play together with their father, Sirius and Remus as well, and every once in a while their mother would join in too. Emerald preferred to stay planted on the ground.

"Maybe for a few weeks, but no more than that. I'll be out before the end of January, I promise." Remus said quietly, almost like he didn't want her and Harry to hear.

"Stay as long as you need." she heard her father respond, and she noticed that he brushed his arm comfortingly as he passed.

Emerald furrowed her brows slightly, unsure about the gesture, what kind of significance it had. She really wanted to ask, but just then her mother popped her head in from the kitchen.

"Dinner's all but ready now, so if you could help me set it all on the table?"

They all got up and headed into the kitchen to help set the table. The air between them all had changed drastically, everyone hungry and looking forwards to a great meal.

* * *

*** Later ***

* * *

The food had tasted absolutely amazing. Although the quality itself was not nearly as good as the food at Hogwarts, it had this aspect of familiarity to it, which made it all better. It had the hint of flavour that only your own parents can create in food. Emerald hadn't realised that she had missed it, until that moment. It was the 6th year in a row of eating Italian food on the day before Christmas Eve, and this time they had everything from garlic bread, lots of Spaghetti, risotto, tomato sauces with different spices, meatballs and pizza. Everyone around the table stayed quiet for the longest time, the only sound being the light scraping of forks and knives, as well as chewing sounds and the occasional slurping from one of them. It was like they were all enjoying the food so much. Once that moment had passed, however, the questions began. Those she had dreaded for weeks.

Sirius was the first to break the silence: " So, is old Minnie still there?"

Emerald looked up from her plate, a bit confused. "Who, sorry?"

"He means Professor McGonagall, sweetheart." her mother said, shooting Sirius a short, cold look.

"Oh, yeah. She's still there. I like her lessons, she is very firm and strict." Emerald replied, smiling weakly at Sirius.

Her father and Sirius chuckled between themselves, both sending her a small grin. Emerald was unsure what for, so she just gave a weak, uncertain smile back, before putting another meatball into her mouth.

"Just wait and see, old Minn -" Sirius began once again, stopping short as her mother sent him another look. "-Professor McGonagall is the perfect head of Gryffindor house."

"Just don't get on her bad side." Remus shot in.

"Because she will not think twice about taking away your Quidditch privileges." her father

Harry laughed next to her, and Emerald couldn't help but grin herself. Just imagining her father turning absolutely mortified by the punishment when he received it. She imagined that that would have been the worst possible punishment, except maybe getting expelled, for her father.

"I remember that, and the punishment was well deserved if you ask me."

"Lily!" Sirius gasped dramatically, looking as though she had deeply offended his tea making or something.

"What?" her mother just replied, giving him a playful look.

"You don't simply mess with Quidditch!"

"Well, considering the three of you bombed the whole dungeon near the Slytherin common room with modified Dungbombs, causing half of the dungeons to reek of a horrible stench for weeks! It's just luck you weren't expelled for it!"

"Pffft, they deserved it." Sirius responded, "And she did force us to clean up all the residue once she figured out it was us and gave me and James detention for months! Remus was only lucky to be viewed as an innocent snowflake because she didn't give him more than a few detentions…"

"My direct participation was usually sparse and far between, Sirius, while the two of you always were guilty of basically anything. I think Professor McGonagall learned to recognise the signs of your involvement by year 3."

Emerald just shook her head lightly. She could barely believe how reckless they had been acting while at school. If she only thought about misbehaving, it left her feeling nauseated and anxious. Her father, Sirius and Remus had been very Gryffindor when at school.

"So, what about you little duckling? Hope you're prepared to follow our legacy. We owe it to McGonagall to give her a more eventful daily life."

She looked up from the table and met Sirius' gaze, a bit unsure about how she would respond. Luckily, she never got to.

"Of course she isn't! Stop pushing my well-behaved children into breaking the rules, Sirius."

"Sorry, mum Potter, the Marauder's legacy must go on somehow! And this little Gryffindor right here is the perfect way to do it. No one will see it coming!"

Her mother and Sirius were glaring challengingly at each other by that point, and Emerald couldn't help but send an uneasy look in her father's direction, before meeting the eyes of Harry, who looked even more uneasy than her. This didn't often enough for everyone to know what was coming if it went much further. The problem was that the two of them were very similar in some ways but very different in others.

"I swear to God, if the two of you start to argue again I would rather we were not all here." her father shot in, brushing a hand through his messy, but thinning hair.

This seemed to ease the tension between the two of them a little bit, and they went back to sending each other playful but challenging looks from afar, no one saying anything for a while. The silence was thick, though, and it made her want to sit entirely still. Like movement was something bad that should not happen. Emerald knew that this was only in her head, though. When someone decided to speak again, however, it was Remus who was addressing her.

"How do you find the subjects at school? Good? Challenging? Difficult?" he was smiling at her, his pale green eyes shining kindly at her.

"I really enjoy them all, except maybe History of Magic." Emerald began, sitting up a little bit more straight in her chair, "I particularly like Charms and Potions."

Remus nodded in agreement.

"I hear that Severus Snape is teaching Potions at Hogwarts these days. How's that?" he asked quietly, scratching the side of his nose carefully with his fingers.

Before she had the time to reply, however, her father beat her to it: "Snape is teaching?! Since when?!"

Emerald let her eyes rest on her father, her brows furrowed in confusion on his remark. What was it with him and Professor Snape?

"Yes, he's taken over Slughorn's position as Potions Master and Head of Slytherin house I've heard. He's been doing it for quite a few years now too."

"He must be a horrible teacher! Like Potions wasn't difficult enough before!" her father shot out angrily. She had never really seen him react to something so angrily before, and it unnerved her.

"Like the Slytherin house wasn't bad enough before, filled with all kinds of lowlife and pure-blooded fanatics, but now they have him in the lead!" Sirius commented next.

They kept discussing angrily amongst themselves but Emerald stopped paying attention. She just couldn't take part in it, it hurt too much. It felt like someone had stabbed her with a knife in the middle of the chest, the aching pain made it hard to think and focus. Still, her thoughts and feelings were going wild in her head. Why did they think so very little of her Head of House, Professor Snape? What did they have against the whole of Slytherin house? How could they hate it so much, even now that they did not go to school themselves, and had no familiarity with the people? And was she as bad as those people, just for being sorted there? As bad as the worst kinds of lowlife? Did her house condemn her to a life where her future could only be cold and horrible? Would she end up cold and horrible in the future? Would a future where even her family hated her become a reality? She started to feel the back of her eyes sting dangerously, and her stomach started to knot with dread. It made her feel uneasy, almost like she would be sick. She tried for dear life to hold back the tears, but it was very hard to constantly blink them away. She didn't want to cry, especially not in front of everyone. Not like that. She peeked a look at them and saw that they were still in the midst of a heated argument of some kind. Emerald debated inside her head if she should excuse herself to go to the bathroom, but decided against it. If she got up, they would all look at her, focus all of their attention on her.

"In my opinion, they should put the whole Slytherin house under investigation. Voldemort supporters and true serpents of the Society, the whole lot of them. Society would be better without the majority of them. That way there would be no black markets, no smuggling, no individuals paying out politicians to get their own values and opinions heard and implemented. Just in general a better place."

This statement made Emerald's eyes widen in shock. She could not believe that her own father had said such a thing! She shot up from her chair, the loud creaking of the chair against the wooden floor made everyone around the table turn their eyes at her. Her eyes started to swell with tears, and she could feel her entire body starting to tremble. She felt small as a mouse as she stood there in front of them. The disappointment and anger she felt were growing so big inside of her that she could barely feel anything else.

"I'm a Slytherin." she muttered, and she was gone before any of them had any chance to respond, slamming her bedroom door shut with a loud, echoing bang.


	10. Chapter 9

**_Hey there! I just wanted to express how thrilled I am for all the positive feedback I have gotten on this story! I want to thank everyone that has favourited, followed and/or reviewed this story, and I hope that you guys keep enjoying it! Feedback or similar is always welcome! Thanks for bearing with me and my semi-busy life, and I hope that I will get to post a bunch more for you to enjoy in the future as well. _**

**_\- Marte_**

She could only imagine what had gone through her family's mind once she revealed her Hogwarts house to them, at last. Instead of the desirable Gryffindor they had all hoped and expected, she was a Slytherin. The evil and dark house. The house that was the unquestionable source of evil, according to her own family. Not long after she had closed the door in her room, an argument erupted from downstairs. It was a very loud one, too. Emerald could almost hear what they were saying through her own sobbing. Almost. This only made her cry harder than she already did since it was so evident that she had upset them so deeply. A million thoughts were racing through her head as she cried, and it made her feel very overwhelmed and confused. A little voice in the back of her head told her to get up, run away before they could formally tell her that they did not want her anymore. Another little voice inside her told her that that idea was absurd. It was hard to truly believe anything in her own mind. She cried uncontrollably for good over an hour, and by then she could not physically cry anymore. It left her face damp, her throat sore and her eyes puffy and swollen.

Her mother came up to try and comfort her eventually, and she thought that that would mean that the argument was over. At least for now. She knocked on the door lightly before she spoke.

"Emerald, sweetheart?" her mother began in a soft voice. When no answer came, she opened the door slightly to peer into the room. "Do you mind if I come in?"

Emerald had curled up in a ball in her bed, hiding under her duvet for comfort. She didn't want to talk to anyone. She just wanted to stay hidden in bed, where she could not disappoint anyone ever again. Her mother came into the room slowly, sitting down at the very edge of her bed. For a long while, none of them said anything. Emerald imagined that her mother was opening and closing her mouth, unsure what to really say in such a difficult situation. And she felt like she was right about it, too. Her mother just stroked her back with one hand soothingly.

"He didn't mean it. You know that your father loves you no matter what." she all but whispered,

Maybe her mother had expected that to fix the whole situation. For her to pull back the covers, suddenly happy and content again, and head down for more family fun. Despite the words her mother said, Emerald still felt like something had broken inside of her. Like someone had kicked her in the guts repeatedly for the longest time. She didn't want to talk to anyone. She just wanted everyone to leave her alone, give her some space. After a while it seemed like her mother finally understood that she would not get any desired response from her, so she got up, and headed downstairs again. It wasn't until she heard her steps all the way down the stairs, that Emerald got up from the bed and locked her bedroom door.

Eventually Emerald fell into a restless sleep, too exhausted and tired from the emotional rollercoaster the day had been to stay awake. She did not find the desired rest in sleep, however, as she had yet another night filled with nightmares.

* * *

 _She snapped her eyes open suddenly. She was lying on the damp grass somewhere in the dark. She could barely make out anything of her surroundings, and it was even hard to see her own hands once she put them up in front of herself. The darkness was very penetrating, it was almost like it sank into the very mind. Emerald sat up, letting her hands roam the area around her carefully. She desperately tried to spot any sources of light nearby, for any indication as to which direction she could go. For she could not stay put, the darkness made her feel uneasy, terrified even. Desperation filled her from head to toe, and it made her feel sick and dizzy. After a few moments, she got to her feet, again looking for any source of light. Suddenly she spotted something far off. It was very faint, so she could just barely make it out at all. She didn't even have time to think before she felt herself sprint in that direction. Although her body looked completely steady, Emerald noticed that her head was spinning. It almost felt like she was on a boat that was rocking constantly._

 _She ran for a long while. It was almost like she wasn't moving at all because the light did not seem to get any closer or brighter. She begged inside her head over and over for it to not go out, knowing that if it did, she would not be able to find her way at all. Although she felt like she had run in the dark for half an eternity, with a blink of an eye she was there. She was approaching the source of the light and discovered that it came from an old graveyard. The gravestones and statues were towering high above her, creating long and dangerous shadows everywhere. Weeds and mould covered most of the gravestones she could see, making her think that no one had been around to care for the graves for a long while. Like it was mostly abandoned, just filled with old people that no one could remember, and least of all cared about. The first grave she approached was so mouldy that the text on it was unreadable. The only symbol really evident was the cross on the top of every grave. Carefully, Emerald tried to manoeuvre through the graves. In some areas the weed had overgrown the path almost entirely, making it even harder for her to move._

 _As if out of nowhere, she heard a voice suddenly. It didn't sound at all like a normal voice, however. It was almost like it had been distorted like she was underwater and someone was speaking to her from above. She could make out the distinct voices very clearly, but the words they uttered were hard to fully make out. Her body started to feel heavy like a weight had been placed on her shoulders without her knowledge. It made it much harder to move steadily, so Emerald held onto the gravestones for support. She realised that if she fell over at that point, she would not be able to get up again. With every few feet, the volume of the voices became louder, although not at all clearer._

 _Finally, she spotted a clearing in the sea of gravestones, and she guessed that that would probably be the centre of the graveyard. As she got closer she noticed that a tall, dark-robed shape was standing there, pacing back and forth impatiently. Almost like it was waiting for something. Emerald felt alarmed to see this unknown figure in front of her, especially since she was alone in the dark. She wanted to stop, hide but found that her feet would not halt even a little bit. Without warning the shape turned to face her. The only thing that met her was a pair of evil, bright, scarlet eyes shining in the shadows of the figure had no visible body, and it was like the cloak was casting a shadow over it to hide it from view. Its eyes met hers, and she wanted to look away desperately. Its dangerous, penetrative gaze made her fall to her knees without warning. She gasped loudly in shock._

 _The figure spoke something to her. She couldn't make out what it said, but it sounded almost melodically. She wanted to run away, hide. Anything to get away from the figure in front of her. It started to speak again, but this time it sounded almost mocking. Suddenly the figure in front of her held a wand in a pale, slender hand, toying with it between its fingers. Without warning, the wand was raised at her. He was going to kill her. The figure started to laugh, and a bright green light flew at her -_

* * *

Emerald snapped her eyes open, nearly jumping up in bed from the shock of her nightmare. Her body was shaking uncontrollably, and it felt clammy and nasty with cold-sweat. With a shaky hand, she turned on the bedside lamp, finally illuminating the room. From the moment the light filled the room, it made her feel a thousand times better. The warmth of the light made her mind feel more at ease, and definitely safer. She leant back against the wall behind her, curling her knees up to her chin, resting her head there, hugging her feet with her arms. The house was still very quiet, so she assumed that it was still somewhere in the middle of the night. It was really hard to tell. Her bedside clock had stopped working at some point while she had been at Hogwarts, so it still said 10:21. She let out a long, shaky breath while staring off into space. Still so tired.

After what felt like a really long time, Emerald swung her feet over the edge of the bed and quietly left the bedroom. She did not want to accidentally wake anyone in the house, so she all but tiptoes as quickly as she could to the upstairs bathroom. It was only a few doors down from her room, but she realised that Remus would probably be sleeping in the guest room, from what little she had heard from the conversation from the day before. She didn't even dare to breathe at all until she had closed the bathroom door shut behind her. The family cat looked up at her sleepily from where she was lying under the sink. Emerald crouched down to pet it, smiling at it as she did. The cat purred half-heartedly in content, although it was clear that it would much rather be sleeping peacefully.

"Don't worry, I'm not here to bother you." she whispered to it, before standing again.

She turned on the cold water tap on the sink, splashing the icy cold water lightly onto her face. Eventually, she took a handful of water as well and used it to wash her face properly. She embraced the coldness against her skin, at least it made it clear to her that she was awake. The nightmare was still very fresh in her mind, and she almost felt like she was back there every time she closed her eyes, even for a fraction of a second. Like it had been imprinted on the back of her eyelids. It had become so hard for her to tell the difference between what was real, and what was not over the past year or so, and that worried her greatly. The cold water was one of the few methods she had discovered would work on confirming reality.

She met her own eyes in the mirror. It didn't really come as a shock that she looked horrible. Almost as horrible as she felt. Her skin was pale, like always, but the heavy bags and the dark circles under her eyes made it look even worse. It almost made her look sick. A long, tired sigh escaped her before she slowly turned the water off again. She had felt so good about going home. She had looked forwards to being in a warm, comfortable and loving environment again. Instead, it turned out like this…

After a while, Emerald decided it was time to leave the bathroom. She was starting to get really tired again and did not want to accidentally fall asleep in the bathroom. She also did not want to end up still being there once the rest of the house woke up and wanted to use the bathroom. Her heart almost skipped a beat as she opened the door.

"Couldn't sleep?" Remus asked calmly, his voice barely more than a whisper. He was leaning against the hallway wall adjacent to the bathroom. He looked somewhat better than he had the evening before, but only somewhat.

Emerald shook her head in response, closing the bathroom door behind her carefully, before stepping into the hallway a little as to not face him directly. She couldn't.

"Because of what happened?"

"Partially."

He fell silent, looking at her with warm, but tired eyes. Emerald let her eyes rest on the ground, not wanting to meet his gaze. She almost felt like he might leave, give up this scheme of getting something out of her when he suddenly spoke again.

"Don't worry, your father will come around. He'll understand his mistake." he began, scratching his arm carefully for a moment. "He would never have acted the way he did if he had known."

"So it's my fault?"

"No! Not at all, Emerald." he sighed deeply, before continuing: "Your father has always been a bit prejudiced, especially towards the Slytherin house. But he cares very deeply of you, and his ability to care is one of his strongest virtues."

"He _really_ wanted me to be a Gryffindor, though. Since we were young, he has always talked about that one day when both Harry and I were Gryffindors like you guys..."

"Just give it time. He will apologise to you, but he, like you, is very stubborn."

Emerald nodded slowly. She really hoped that he was right. Imagining a life without her father actively in it was very hard. He was her father, after all, and she loved him with all her heart. Maybe he just needed some time to process the idea of her being a Slytherin first before he could truly accept her for what she had become. Or else it would be a very, very long 7 years at Hogwarts.

"On a whole other topic, how are you experiencing Hogwarts so far?" Remus asked, smiling.

"Well, there are a lot of fellow students that are very unhappy with me being sorted into Slytherin. Especially since I am not pure-blooded." she began, unsure what to really mention to him. She did not want him to worry about her, but she also did not want to lie. "And the fact that there are people in my house who are related to Death Eaters and Voldemort supporters does not really help. But I enjoy all my classes a lot!"

Remus nodded, furrowing his brows slightly. It looked almost like he was considering several options to what to say next. And maybe he was. Emerald just thought it was slightly absurd that they were discussing this in the hallway in the middle of the night. It didn't really feel like the time, nor the place for that kind of chitchat. She yawned, and he smiled understandingly.

"I hope they are not giving you too hard of a time, and that you have friends there to support you. "

She just smiled. "I'll be fine."

He nodded again, before looking around the hallway. It looked as if he was thinking hard about something again. "You better head to bed now. We can talk more in the morning."

Emerald agreed half-heartedly, already feeling her body growing heavy with tiredness once more. She bid Remus goodnight before returning to her room. Luckily she was so exhausted that what was left of her night was spent in a completely dreamless sleep.


End file.
